Pa 2206

Received: 15 May 2020 Revised: 17 May 2020 Accepted: 22 May 2020
DOI: 10.1002/pa.2206
ACADEMIC PAPER
Policy response to the economic challenge from COVID-19 in

India: A qualitative enquiry
Gagan Deep Sharma | Gaurav Talan | Mansi Jain
University School of Management Studies,

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, The recent COVID-19 pandemic has not only resulted in the loss of human lives but
New Delhi, India
also distressed economies. The impact of this crisis is even higher in emerging econo-
Correspondence mies like India due to already slowing growth rates, poor health infrastructure, and a
Gagan Deep Sharma, University School of
significant population living in extreme poverty. While the government is taking mea-
Management Studies, Associate Director,
International Affairs, Guru Gobind Singh sures to handle this crisis, nobody can be sure if these measures are adequate, as this
Indraprastha University, Sector 16 C, Dwarka,
will depend on how soon the spread of the virus is contained in the country. How-
New Delhi, India.
Email: angrishgagan@gmail.com ever, understanding the depth of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian
economy is vital to formulate the policy and measures to contain this economic
impact. This paper attempts to understand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the
Indian economy by employing a qualitative research design, based on sentiment anal-
ysis to understand 15 industry experts' opinion concerning the socio-economic
impact of COVID-19. The study makes a theoretical as well as applied contribution
to the field of study. While theoretically, it contributes to the field of pandemic
research, public health management, and disaster management; in an applied sense,
we propose a set of measures for the policymakers based out in India, as well as in
other emerging nations of the world.
1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N to opt for production cuts, the banking sector is facing stressed loans
(Buehler et al., 2020; The Economist, 2020c), and the workforce
The outbreak of pandemics has conventionally been leaving a lasting around the world is staring at job losses. The oil industry is also greatly
impact on the global economy. Since the early twentieth century, pan- affected due to reduced demand in the global markets (Dunn & Sher-
demics like the Spanish Flu (1918–1920), Asian Flu (1957–1958), man, 2020). However, certain sectors like tourism, restaurants, and
H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic (2009–2010), West African Ebola epi- aviation are suffering the most due to lockdowns in different coun-
demic (2014–2016), Zika Virus epidemic (2015-present day), and the tries and reduced public movement (Krader & Vines, 2020;
recent COVID-19 pandemic (2010-present day) have not only Suneson, 2020; World Tourism Organisation, 2020). With lockdowns
resulted in the loss of human lives but also distressed economies (The emerging as the only way to contain the speed of spread of the virus,
Economist, 2020a). The immediate effect of the ongoing COVID-19 the world faces a tough dilemma of saving lives through lockdown,
pandemic can be seen on service-based businesses (O'Dea, 2020; The which is bound to create havoc for the livelihoods. Loss of lives and
Economist, 2020a), and informal economy (Chandrasekhar & the preventive measure of lockdown have a significant impact on the
Ghosh, 2020) leading to a sharp spike in unemployment (International global economy, and its financial aftershocks may even worsen with
Labour Organisation, 2020). COVID-19 pandemic has emerged at a time. Though the mortality rate of patients affected by COVID-19 is
time when the global economy is more interconnected than ever low as compared with other epidemics in the past, its impact on the
before. This interconnectedness has not only led to a rapid spread of economies is high in the present globalized world (World Economic
the virus across the globe but has also triggered a chain reaction of Forum, 2020a). COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cut the global
economic disruptions (The Economist, 2020d). While manufacturers GDP growth rate by 1.5% (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and retailers are receiving fewer orders and are subsequently forced and Development, 2020).
J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2206. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 1 of 16
https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2206
2 of 16 SHARMA ET AL.
The impact of this crisis may even be higher in emerging econo- 2 What are the fiscal policy, monetary policy, GST, and other eco-
mies like India due to already slowing growth rates, poor health infra- nomic measures required to manage the challenge being faced by
structure, and a significant population living in extreme poverty. The the Indian economy from COVID-19?
spread of COVID-19 has exacerbated the Indian economy, which was 3 What strategies and measures should be adopted to deal with the
already in perils, mainly due to slowing domestic demand and external economic challenges concerning the small and medium-sized enter-
factors like the US–China trade war (Goyal, 2020). So much so that prises, daily wage earners, migrant workers in India?
Moody's had to cut its GDP forecast for 2020 for India to 2.5% (as 4 What measures must be adopted by the developing nations to
against 5.3% projected barely 10 days ago) (Business Today, 2020). tackle the global challenges across the industries, including trade,
The immediate shocks from the lockdown during the COVID-19 pan- aviation, tourism, hospitality, and so forth?
demic include the collapse of the informal sector in India, which 5 What are the long-term policies and measures required to deal with
employs nearly 80% of the country's employed population. To tackle the post-COVID crisis?
with this unprecedented challenge, the government of India
announced a relief package to the tune of 1% of the country's GDP, The paper is organized as follows. The present section introduces
reduced interest rates, extended realization period of export pro- the study and formulates the research questions; the second section
ceeds, loans and EMIs, and reduced the CRR. While the government summarizes the existing literature on economic impacts of COVID-19;
and central bank are taking these measures to handle this crisis, the third section outlines the methodology used for this study; the
nobody can be sure if these measures are adequate and effective, as fourth section presents the results and analysis; the fifth section dis-
this will depend on how soon the spread of the virus is contained in cusses the findings vis-à-vis available literature; the sixth section pre-
the country. However, understanding the depth of the impact of sents policy implications; and the seventh section concludes.
COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy is vital to formulate the
policy and measures to contain this economic impact.
The response to COVID-19 pandemic requires a coordinated 2 | LI T E RA T U R E RE V I E W
effort like in any other disaster. International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies defines disaster as “a sudden, calamitous The COVID-19 outbreak is caused by the severe acute respiratory
event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or soci- syndrome, SARS-CoV-2 virus that first manifested in December 2019
ety and causes human, material, and economic or environmental in Wuhan city in Hubei province of China (The World Health Organi-
losses that exceed the community's or society's ability to cope using sation, 2020). The virus has spread elsewhere in China and to 24
its own resources” where Disaster = (Vulnerability + Hazard)/ Capac- other countries, including South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Iran,
ity (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socie- France, Italy, Germany, and the USA (The Economist, 2020b; Thomp-
ties, 2020). UN Chief called COVID-19 pandemic as the most son, 2020). While the cases in China reported a drop for the fourth
challenging crisis since WW-II (Press Trust of India, 2020). India also consecutive day on 29 March 2020 (France 24, 2020), cases from
declared COVID-19 outbreak as a notified disaster (Hindustan other countries continued to rise despite more robust medial stan-
Times, 2020) and aims to systematically respond to this pandemic call- dards and practices (The Economist, 2020a). The outbreak revived the
ing its response so far as pro-active, pre-emptive, and graded (Times memories of a similar previously known virus, namely, 2019-nCoV
Now, 2020). (SARS), which started from Guangdong province of China and went
This paper attempts to understand the impact of COVID-19 pan- on to generate cases in 37 countries between 2002 and 2003
demic on the Indian economy by analyzing the interviews of (Smith, 2006). However, SARS was then controlled, but the potential
policymakers and experts on the Indian economy. The systematic evolution of coronavirus is still not well understood (Cohen &
response of the policymakers to keep the economy afloat may be Normile, 2020; M. D. Wang & Jolly, 2004). Amidst the significant pub-
studied by segregating these interviews in seven themes; (a) Current lic health risk being posed by COVID-19 to the world, the World
economic measures taken by the government, (b) Fiscal policy deci- Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of
sions and stimulus package, (c) Global outlook and challenges, (d) international concern and pronounced COVID-19 as a global pan-
GST-related measures, (e) Industry-specific measures, (f) Long-term demic (WHO, 2020).
economic impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, and (g) Impact on small Research, based on the surveillance and control of infectious dis-
businesses and daily wagers. Through a qualitative analysis of these eases, as well as their impact on economic development has recently
interviews, we attempt to assess their responses on the fiscal and gained momentum (Brahmbhatt & Dutta, 2008). This attention is fur-
monetary space for handling this crisis; measures implemented or ther restored by the emergence of many new infectious diseases
planned; India's response in comparison with developed countries; namely—severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), bovine
and long-term effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy. spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and H5N1 subtype influenza A,
Our research questions pertain to the following– that are anticipated to continue emerging; anti-biotic resistant bacte-
rial infections including tuberculosis and methicillin-resistant Staphylo-
1 What is the sentiment of the economic experts about the impact of coccus aureus (MRSA); zoonoses such as SARS, avian influenza, and
COVID-19 on the Indian economy? Lyme disease; HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; and epidemic
SHARMA ET AL. 3 of 16
plant diseases such as cassava mosaic virus and banana blight (King, et al. (2017) examine the financial impacts of the porcine reproductive
Peckham, Waage, Brownlie, & Woolhouse, 2006). and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), foot and mouth disease (FMD), and
Globalization increases the chances of infectious diseases to epidemic diarrhea between 2014 and 2014 in Vietnam and find that
spread from one country to the other (The Economist, 2020a). With the losses per pig holding due to foot and mouth disease are 19, 25
strong connectivity across the globe, the impact of the disease goes and 32% of gross margin of pig holding in a large farm, fattening farm,
beyond the conventional mortality (the ones who die) or the morbidity and smallholder, respectively; and E. Bloom, Wit, and Carangal-San
(those who are incapacitated or caring for the incapacitated and Jose (2005) evaluate the consequences of avian influenza (H5N1) on
unable to work for a period). There are many direct and indirect chan- Taiwan's macroeconomy and industries and conclude that, if the dis-
nels through which an infectious disease outbreak influences the ease becomes a human-to-human pandemic, then it may impact the
economy, but such economic effects do not fit into the standard real GDP by −4.2 to −5.9%.
approach of measuring the economic costs of disease (McKibbin & The outbreak of SARS, which started from Guangdong province
Fernando, 2020). To highlight such scenarios, Brahmbhatt and of China between 2002 and 2003, infected some 10,000 individuals,
Dutta (2008) outline the “cost of illness” approach, which focusses on killing around 1,000 people, which are quite low (M. D. Wang &
the opportunity cost of resources that are either consumed during Jolly, 2004), and also led to a very disproportionate economic impact
medical care and treatment such as hospital fees, physician and nurses (Smith, 2006). Sander et al. (2009) examine the potential impact of
services, medicines, etcetera (direct costs); or the present or future pandemic influenza in the United States and conclude that in the
cost to the society for morbidity, disability, or loss of output due to absence of any intervention, there is an economic impact of $187 per
reduced productivity or workers' death (indirect costs). Economic capita as a loss to society. M. D. Wang and Jolly (2004) compile the
analysis based on this approach is adopted by Meltzer, Cox, and epidemiological evidence on SARS breakout and conclude that higher
Fukuda (1999), who evaluate the possible monetary estimates of an mortality rates are found in the regions where hospitals played a sig-
influenza epidemic in the United States, and opine that the highest nificant source of transmission. The experience from these previous
economic cost is due to death and that people of age 65 years and disease outbreaks provides valuable insights that may assist in devel-
above, should be vaccinated first. However, most of the studies have oping corrective measures to eradicate COVID-19.
attempted to evaluate the economic effects of widespread infectious Over the second half of 2019, and before the outbreak of
diseases based on private and non-private medical costs associated COVID-19, India's economy was already sputtering with slow growth
with the disease or the demographic consequences of the epidemic to 4.7% last year. Further, the unemployment was at a 45-year high,
(Lee & McKibbin, 2004), while in many cases, the costs of the disease and the Indian industrial output for eight core sectors fell by 5.2% last
are given without context, and with little use of appropriate denomi- year (Mukharji, 2020). The COVID-19 shock has changed the sce-
nators, making the analysis less reliant and valuable (Rich & nario, with all the forecasts for 2020 being revised downwards, for
Niemi, 2017). The standard neoclassical growth model suggests that a instance, India Ratings and Research has cut India's GDP forecast to
decrease in the population growth leads to a faster accumulation of 3.6% from 5.5% for the financial year 2020–2021 (Kumar, 2020), and
capital, which further strengthens and increases the output growth of Moody's further cut its GDP forecast for 2020 for India from 5.3%
the country (Lee & McKibbin, 2004). For instance, Brainerd and projected earlier to 2.5% (Business Today, 2020). Despite the limited
Siegler (2003) evaluate the economic impact of the 1918–1919 Span- room for policies, there is a widely shared expectation that things
ish influenza epidemic that killed 40 million people worldwide and would gradually improve in 2020, led by the broad set of emerging
675,000 people in the United States and conclude that the epidemic economies, with a return to potential global growth by 2021 (United
is positively correlated with the subsequent economic growth in the Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2020). The gap
United States. On the contrary, Bloom and Mahal (1997) find an insig- between the reality on the ground, calling for bold and concentrated
nificant impact of the 1918–1919 influenza epidemic on acreage policy measures, and a persistent belief in a self-correcting world econ-
sown per capita in India. Haacker (2002) evaluates the impact of HIV/ omy, stigmatized suggestions of a need for more impactful policy inter-
AIDS in South African countries and opine significant negative impact ventions, instead of conceding to monetary tweaking and “structural
on per capita income growth, mainly through its effect on human capi- reforms.” Former FBI governor Raghuram Rajan opines that economi-
tal. The conventional approach of calculating the associated economic cally, India is facing the greatest emergencies since independence and
costs misses out on measuring the real economic costs of the disease insists the government must consult people with proven expertise and
that are highly contagious and for which there is no vaccine (McKibbin capabilities, instead of relying on the overworked people from the
& Fernando, 2020). Prime Minister's Office (The Economic Times, 2020).
In recent years, there have been numerous outbreaks of livestock Our study makes a noble contribution to the body of knowledge
and crop diseases, costing billions of euros to individual countries in two ways. By answering our research questions as mentioned in
(King et al., 2006). For instance, Y. H. Wang, Yang, and Chen (2013) the previous section of the paper, we firstly make a theoretical contri-
evaluate the infectious diseases namely enterovirus 71, dengue fever, bution to the body of knowledge in the field of public health manage-
SARS, and H1N1 that affect Taiwan's biotechnology industry over ment, pandemic research, and disaster management; and secondly, an
recent times and indicate a significant effect on the research and applied contribution by informing the policymakers in India and other
development ratios, current ratios, and assets of the company; Pham developing nations of the world for tackling this crisis.
3 | M E TH O DO LO GY that most of the experts are very negative about the majority of the
issues under study. Especially in terms of long-term impacts, 52% of
We employ a qualitative research design, based on sentiment analysis the respondents reflect negative opinions. The duration and depth of
to understand the industry expert's opinion concerning the economic the crisis depend on how fast the virus spreads (which is also contex-
impact of COVID-19 and the measures that can be taken to prevent tual with the lockdown period), how long before the vaccine is found,
it. The qualitative data analysis software, (NVivo 12, QSR Interna- and how effectively the policymakers can mitigate the damage to the
tional) is used for processing and categorizing the opinions expressed economic health and well-being. The consensus view is that the shock
during the interviews and live conferences conducted by the news has the potential to disrupt the otherwise well-aligned global recovery
agencies, business organizations, and other sources. that had set during late 2017 (United Nations Conference on Trade
For the study, we referred to 15 semi-structured interviews and Development, 2020). Forty-three percent of the experts have a
including three top-level management officials namely, Dinesh negative opinion about the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses
Kanabar (CEO, Dhruva Advisors), Pawan Goenka (MD, Mahindra & and daily wage earners in India as the lockdown, and further quaran-
Mahindra), and Vivek Gambhir (MD, CEO, Godrej Consumer Prod- tine measures have left the lower-level workers and daily wage
ucts); four economists namely, Pronab Sen, C Rangarajan, Robert Sub- earners with no job and income (BBC News, 2020c), resulting in hun-
baraman and Swaminathan Aiyar; and seven current and former dreds and thousands of migrant workers desperately trying to return
government officials namely, Nirmala Sitaraman (Finance Minister), to their hometowns (BBC News, 2020c). Additionally, the govern-
Shaktikanta Das (RBI Governor), Raghuram Rajan (Former Finance ment's proposal in the form of an economic package of distributing
Minister), P. Chidambaram (Former Finance Minister), Yashwant Sinha free food and Rs. 500 per month to each account held by women is
(Former Finance Minister), Rathin Roy (Former Economic Advisor), also criticized for being insufficient (Business Line, 2020a, 2020b).
and R. Ramakumar (Kerela's Planning Board Member). For studying The opinion of the experts is also negative with respect to the eco-
the economic impact of such a pandemic outbreak, the interviewees nomic measures (32% negative) and the economic stimulus (37% neg-
included for conducting this qualitative research, have considerable ative). Many commentators, including economists and high-level
expertise and capabilities of dealing with such emergencies faced by corporate officials, are almost unanimous in suggesting the govern-
the country, and hence, their responses may result in achieving more ment to pen down and propose a more significant package focusing
reliable and valid results. These interviews are dated from March 01, on the plight of the working class, and provide meaningful support to
2020 to March 31, 2020, specifically during the period when the pan- the already suppressed agriculture sector, which is also affected by
demic started to spread at a faster pace in India. The content of all the the additional burden of reverse migration (Business Line,
interviews is evaluated and classified into seven common themes to 2020a, 2020b). However, only in respect of the GST-related mea-
facilitate their processing in NVivo, namely, fiscal policy and the stim- sures, the responses and outlook appear moderately positive at 50%,
ulus package, industry-specific measures, small business, and daily confirming that though the fiscal measures require serious revisions,
wagers, current economic measures, goods and services tax (GST) the measures pertaining to GST and related issues were quite appreci-
related measures, global outlook and challenges, and long-term eco- ated. The government has already deferred the date for filing income
nomic impacts. tax returns from March 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020, while giving
In the interest of transparency and replicability, as advocated by extension for filing GST returns for smaller companies (Mondal, 2020).
Tranfield, Denyer, and Smart (2003), we provide some more detail Besides, the government has also relaxed the GST reconciliation obli-
into the procedure followed for analyzing the interviews. The inter- gation which may be a relief to the businesses (ET Contributors, 2020).
views available in English are directly entered into the software, while However, industries, including tourism, hospitality, and aviation, are
the ones in other languages are transcribed in English before looking forward to enhanced measures, including further tax waivers
importing to the software. A word frequency query is run with the (ET Contributors, 2020).
text to identify the frequently used words and phrases. The frequently COVID-19 pandemic has already infected almost 2,700,000 peo-
used words and phrases from the interviewees' text are grouped to ple across the globe, resulting in more than 190,000 deaths (as on
identify the words that are more important than others for the study. April 23, 2020), which further reflects its potential to reach a large
These words are analyzed for possible and frequent combinations. proportion of the global population (Worldometer, 2020). Some esti-
These combinations are further analyzed based on the comments sur- mates further suggest that 40–70% of the world's population could
rounding the combinations to understand the context of the data, get infected (Baldwin & Mauro, 2020). The sentimental analysis
which is further categorized based on the combinations, and the posi- hence, confirms the negative outlook reflective from the interviews
tive and negative connotations are separated. with 38 and 41% negative opinion concerning the global outlook and
industry-specific measures, respectively. The prospects of the econ-
omy and the level of employment are decreasing rapidly. At the same
4 | FINDINGS time, the updated forecasts point to a significant negative impact on
the global economy and reflect on growing signs of economic reces-
We begin by conducting a sentiment analysis of the interviews used sion (International Labour Organisation, 2020). Additionally, the wide-
for this paper. The sentiment analysis (Table 1 and Figure 1) suggests spread of virus triggered containment measures, resulting in huge
TABLE 1 Sentiment analysis
Sentiment
Theme Very negative Moderately negative Moderately positive Very positive
Current economic measures 32% 26% 29% 13%

Fiscal policy and stimulus package 37% 21% 24% 18%
Global outlook and challenges 38% 29% 24% 10%
GST-related measures 10% 40% 50% 0%
Industry-specific measures 35% 41% 18% 6%
Long-term economic impacts 52% 10% 24% 14%
Small businesses and daily wagers 43% 27% 20% 10%
Overall 38% 25% 25% 12%
FIGURE 1 Sentiment analysis (Graph)
economic impacts on different industries including travel and tourism

industry, entertainment and leisure sector, further hampering the
global supply chains (Baldwin & Mauro, 2020), for instance, IATA esti- Fiscal policy and stimulus package
mates that aviation industry may face a loss of 29 billion US dollars of

Industry-specific measures
passenger revenues (IATA Economics, 2020).
Further in this section, we analyze the experts' interviews on the Small business and daily wagers
grounds as shown in Figure 2.
Indian socio-economy in the wake of
COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the global economy and poses Current economic measures
COVID-19
a risk to augment the current socio-economic issues such as inequal-
GST-related measures
ity, poverty, and gender disparity. India has been particularly affected
severely due to an already slowing economy. It is, therefore, vital to Global outlook and challenges
understand how policymakers are planning to tackle this crisis effec-
tively. The responses of the policymakers have been segregated into Long-term economic impacts
seven themes discussed further in this section.

The Indian government is working to revive the economy devas- FIGURE 2 Managing Indian socio-economy in the wake of
tated by COVID-19 pandemic by introducing a slew of monetary and COVID-19
fiscal policy measures. However, the stimulus package and cash trans-
fers in India are not expected to be as large as in the western countries
like the United States and Germany due to limited fiscal space. Besides,
specific industries in India like tourism, hospitality, retail, and construc-
tion are affected more than the others. Hence, it is crucial to under-
stand how these sectors will be kept afloat. India is also home to a large
population involved in unorganized sector earning daily wages. These
are the people who migrate to cities from their respective villages for
better lives. Large scale reverse migration to villages from cities is seen
during the lockdown in India casting a shadow over the livelihood of
these individuals. Further, demand creation is an essential aspect of
reviving the economy post-COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in taxation
structure, particularly GST can out some extra money in the hands of
people which is likely to prevent demand destruction. The COVID-19
pandemic has also been tuff on globalization which was already
affected by rising protectionism. While many countries including India
are aiming to promote self-reliance and localization, it shall be interest-
ing to see how today's inter-connected economies shall balance their
country-specific challenges vis-à-vis global challenges.
Lastly, the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic is expected FIGURE 3 Fiscal policy and the stimulus package
to leave a long-term impact due to major disruptions in almost all sec-
tors of the economy. It is vital to analyze long-term economic reforms
apart from the stimulus package to mitigate the risk of a prolonged loss of jobs and a decline in income levels, whereas on the supply side,
slowdown post-COVID-19. the disruptions in production have spread across the world. All busi-
nesses, regardless of size, are facing severe challenges, especially
those in aviation, tourism, and hospitality industries with concurrent
4.1 | Fiscal policy and the stimulus package declines in revenue, insolvencies, and job losses (International Labour
Organisation, 2020). Further, with widespread panic and fear, overall
The Indian government announced a $22.6 billion (around 1% of the confidence of consumers has come down, leading to the postpone-
GDP) economic stimulus package to provide direct cash transfers and ment of buying decisions, which pulls the demand from sectors,
food security measures to millions of poor people hit by a nationwide including tourism, aviation, apparel, hospitality, and cinema industries
lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic (CNBC Asia Eco- (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, 2020).
nomics, 2020). This proposal was put forth two days after a 21-day
nationwide lockdown was announced. However, with an intent to
control the spread of the deadly virus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi 4.2 | Industry-specific measures
extended the 21-day lockdown by additional 3 weeks up to May 03,
2020 (BusinessLine, 2020b), which further leads to the urgent need Tourism, hospitality, and aviation are among the worst affected sectors
for the center to announce more robust fiscal measures. Many econo- that are facing the maximum brunt of the present crisis (Business Stan-
mists anticipate that the center will have to announce a much bigger dard, 2020). Closing of cinema theatres and declining footfall in shop-
financial package than the one earlier, of around $39 billion to address ping complexes have affected the retail sector by impacting the
the needs of the vulnerable and affected segments of the economy consumption of both essential and discretionary items (Federation of
(BusinessLine, 2020b). Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, 2020). Consumption is also
The proposed financial package emphasizes on providing food getting impacted due to job losses and a decline in income levels of
security and direct bank transfers for poor households, and daily wage people, particularly the daily wage earners due to slowing activity in
earners, who need immediate help (CNBC Asia Economics, 2020). It is several sectors, including retail, construction, entertainment, and so
evident from Figure 3 that the responses to the fiscal stimulus are forth (International Labour Organisation, 2020). On the supply side, the
least concentrated around the other industrial sectors and do not pro- shutdown of factories and the resulting delay in the supply of goods
vide concrete measures to tackle problems faced by them, namely— from China has affected many Indian manufacturing sectors, which
exports, tourism, transportation, horticulture, retail, imports, crude oil, source their intermediate and final product requirements from China
and fuel. The prominence of words such as health, hygiene, hungry, (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, 2020). Some
migrant, families, employees, and customer suggest that the govern- sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, electronics, chemical prod-
ment has focused more on the demand- and supply-side issues. In ucts, etc. are facing an imminent raw material and component shortage.
terms of the demand side, consumption has got impacted due to the Specifically, with the closure of factories in China, the Indian
pharmaceutical companies dependence on China for active pharmaceu- services but also demand (consumption and investment) (International
tical ingredients (APIs) became a matter of concern for health security, Labour Organisation, 2020). Travel bans, border closures, and quaran-
and in such a case, the government encourages India's API manufac- tine measures have resulted in job-less workers with no-incomes
turers to expand capacity and promote pharmaceutical manufacturing (BBC News, 2020c). Sustaining business operations in such scenarios
hubs (Chatterjee, 2020). is particularly tricky, particularly for the Small and Medium Enter-
From Figure 4, growth seems to be the primary source of concern prises (SMEs).
for the respondents. At the same time, jobs, debt, inflation, and innova- An Action Plan has been prepared by the G20 members to pro-
tion are other prominent factors to be taken into consideration while for- tect lives, safeguard people's jobs and incomes, restore confidence,
mulating policies to control the negative impact of the virus infection on preserve financial stability and help those countries that need assis-
specific industries. Moreover, health, hospitals, and medicine manufactur- tance relating to the public health issues and also minimize the global
ing are amongst the least discussed aspects (Figure 4), indicating that in supply chain disruption (ET Bureau, 2020b). Additionally, with the
the face of such pandemic, there is a need to support health and eco- growing number of confirmed cases of coronavirus, the government
nomic well-being of the citizens and, it is crucial to prioritize health spend- extended the lockdown, and further introduced lockdown 2.0, provid-
ing for medical equipment, and COVID-19 testing; compensate doctors ing specific sectors to become partially operational from April 20,
and nurses and further to make sure that the hospitals and clinics have 2020 (ET Online, 2020). Keeping in mind the interests of the farmers
enough protective resources to function effectively (PTI, 2020b). Innova- and daily wage earners, economic activities in certain areas have been
tion, which does not seem to be a concern from the ongoing discussions, permitted (with restrictions) including the movement of cargo, and
can play a vital role in the form of artificial intelligence technology during farming operations so that the farmers may work on the field, fisher-
this outbreak in every aspect, such as traffic management, infection ies, plantations, animal husbandry, and commercial and private estab-
detection, logistics supply chain, and so forth (Xu, Luo, Yu, & Cao, 2020). lishments including e-commerce companies, manufacturing, and other
industrial establishments to create job opportunities while maintaining
safety protocols and social distancing (ET Online, 2020).
4.3 | Small business and daily wagers Our subjects emphasize the health-related issues and the require-
ments of the poor, daily wage earners as well as the small and medium
The crisis has already transformed into an economic and labour mar- enterprises. Figure 5 clearly indicates the focus on the growth, GDP,
ket shock, impacting not only production and supply of goods and cash, and economic package that was directed to provide financial
FIGURE 4 Industry-specific measures

and food assistance to the poor. However, words such as values, sen- lockdown eventually got extended till May 03, 2020 (BBC
timents, uncertain, fear, stress, and distress also reflect on the psycho- News, 2020a). The lockdown was further followed by the $22.5 bil-
logical and mental health issues that demand immediate assistance. lion stimulus package announced on March 26, 2020 (CNBC Asia Eco-
Medicine, medical service, health, ventilators, treatment products are nomics, 2020). On March 13, 2020, the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic
the words that revolve around public health. McKibbin and reformist group, had a large gathering of more than 3,000 people in
Fernando (2020) maintain that especially in developing nations, an Nizamuddin with foreign nationals flying in from other countries(ABP
outbreak of a disease is spread more rapidly due to overcrowding, News Bureau, 2020). On March 13, 2020 the Indian government
poor public health, and interactions with wild animals, which can kill implemented strict travel restrictions and prohibited gathering of
people of nay socio-economic groups in any society. Hence, large more than 200 people (The Print, 2020).
investments in public health and development are recommended With the outbreak of COVID-19, a series of measures continued
through global cooperation amongst all the countries. for the ultimate purpose of eradicating the spread of this pandemic,
Figure 5 also directs the focus on words such as unemployment, and further, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the ongoing
shutting, distress, and fear. Hence, the government must take initia- lockdown till May 03, 2020 (BusinessLine, 2020b). While the measure
tives towards providing psychological and financial support to the was taken to save lives, but the extended lockdown would further
people suffering in such a crisis. Words like fear, stress, and distress have a massive impact on the jobs and livelihoods of many people.
reflect upon the psychological attitude of the small business and daily However, from the context of the financial and capital markets, Fig-
wagers while in crisis, reflecting upon their behaviour and choices. ure 6 reflects on words such as law, linkage, synergies, collaborations,
and interventions, that have not gathered enough attention of the
well-known economists and top-level government officials. According
4.4 | Current economic measures to the report by Dun and Bradstreet, the three significant channels of
impact for Indian businesses are legal linkages, supply chain and mac-
The current economic measures refer to the actions and measures roeconomic factors. (Press Trust of India, 2021) Many Indian entities
implemented by the Indian government in response to the COVID-19 have legal linkages with companies in countries with a large number
virus attack. The 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced in India of confirmed COVID-19 cases, signifying that a slowdown in the busi-
on March 24, 2020 (BBC News, 2020b). However, with the increasing ness activity of these foreign markets shall have a complementary
number of active cases to 8,988 and deaths toll rising to 339, the negative impact on the Indian companies. Similar to the results from
F I G U R E 5 Measures related to small

business and daily wagers
FIGURE 6 Keywords for current economic measures

FIGURE 7 Goods and services tax (GST)-related measures
Sections 4.1 and 4.2, Figure 6 here also highlights on the rate cutting,
returns, and profitability, however, the other aspects related to wage has also been disrupted with a short supply of raw material from
transactions, interim rollover, lend provisions, and workers require more abroad. To combat this double whammy, the government has already
concrete steps to help the working class survive their loss of livelihood. released the pending GST and customs refund, which may benefit all
industries, including MSMEs (Entrepreneur India, 2020). Besides, the
government has also relaxed the GST reconciliation obligation, which
4.5 | Goods and services tax (GST)-related may be a relief to the businesses (ET Contributors, 2020). However,
measures more measures are required to provide more relief to taxpayers. Cer-
tain industries that are suffering more including tourism, hospitality,
Other than the economic measures to cope with the COVID-19 lock- and aviation, are looking forward to enhanced measures, including fur-
down, liquidity in the economy also needs to be ensured to keep the ther tax waivers (ET Contributors, 2020) (Figure 7).
economy rolling. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken monetary mea-
sures to infuse liquidity into the economy. These decisions include a
three-month EMI moratorium of loans and credit cards to provide 4.6 | Global outlook and challenges
relief to many borrowers. Emergency measures like increasing ways
and means advances (WMA) limit by 30% for all states and union ter- As of now, COVID-19 is leaving a blanket impact across countries and
ritories, an extension of realization of export proceeds, cutting the industries and is likely to be significant, especially if the virus is not con-
repo rate by 75 basis points, and reducing cash reserve ratio (CRR) by tained quickly (Rising Kashmir, 2020). China accounts for around 17% of
100 basis points reduced the liquidity costs and provided relief to the global GDP at purchasing power parity and hence shall substantially
state governments and the overall banking system (ET Bureau, 2020a; impact the economy globally, including economic slowdown, trade, supply
ETMarkets.com, 2020). These measures are directed at benefitting chain disruption, and so forth (The JP Morgan, 2020). The COVID-19 out-
exporters, particularly the pharma sector, due to the increased break has already brought considerable human suffering and major eco-
demand of India-made drugs to combat COVID-19 overseas. Certain nomic disruptions, with containment efforts including quarantines, border
tweaks in the income tax and goods and services tax (GST) rates are closures, wider final demand for imported goods and services, wider
also needed to complement these monetary policy decisions. The gov- regional declines in international tourism and business travel. Accordingly,
ernment has already deferred the date for filing income tax returns the annual globe GDP growth is estimated to drop to 2.4% in 2020, from
from March 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020, while giving extension for fil- an already weak 2.9% in 2019 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
ing GST returns for smaller companies for March, April, and May to and Development, 2020). Trade is likely to fall more steeply in sectors
June 2020 (Mondal, 2020). Manufacturing and Micro, Small & characterized by complex value chain linkages, especially in electronics
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are two sectors hit hard by lockdown and automotive products. According to the Organisation for Economic
on top of an already weakened domestic demand. The supply chain Co-operation and Development trade in value added (TiVa) database, the
share of foreign value added in electronics exports was around 10% for wheels of economic growth have been brought to a halt. The immedi-
the United States, 25% for China, more than 30% for Korea, greater than ate announcement of the nationwide lockdown left a lot of daily wage
40% for Singapore and more than 50% for Mexico, Malaysia, and Viet- earners and poor people helpless, with no access to food and no cash
nam (World Trade Organization, 2020). in hand. The current scenario is also evident from the results as
In India, the focus is still on the economic factors, including growth, exhibited in Figure 9, where the primary concern is on the food, poor,
GDP, the market rate of return, etc. Figure 8 indicates words such as workers and employees, their employment, wages, and income. Addi-
recession, which looms large presently. India is likely to report its worst tionally, overnight lockdown further resulted in the poor people
growth performance since the 1991 liberalization for this fiscal year as migrating to their hometowns, as they did not have the money or a
the economy is significantly affected by the pandemic outbreak (World place to live (BBC News, 2020c).
Bank, 2020). Additionally, with interviews indicating capital flows, debt, To date, the fiscal response to the pandemic has been unprece-
health, currency and exchange rates (Figure 8), India's rupee slid 5.5% in dented. Such policies will result in massive debt relative to GDP. In
the first quarter, contributing to a 33% loss for the benchmark stock such cases, especially the emerging countries would require grants
index in dollar terms., and about $15 billion left the country's stocks and and loans which may be assisted, with coordination among the
bonds in March, which was the highest amongt the Asian countries nations (Blanchard, 2020). Former finance secretary Subhash Garg
(Bloomberg, 2020). India Today (2020) reports that emerging and devel- opined that with the massive spread of COVID-19 cases, the govern-
oping economies face unparalleled reversals in capital flows and currency ment might have to face additional expenditure demand of about $39
pressures while dealing with weaker health systems and limited fiscal billion from the state governments to support the small informal busi-
space to recover. Further, economic inequalities have not gained much nesses and millions of workers rendered jobless due to the lockdown
attention recently, as evident in Figure 8, however, economic inequalities (PTI, 2020a). Such expenditure would lead to a long-term financial
should be the focus of the policymakers, as they pose serious threats burden on the economy.
against the post-outbreak recovery. Policy measures shall target Further, there is a need to divert the attention towards the
supporting employment growth, stringer labour marker regulations lead- healthcare, livelihood, and welfare of the people belonging to the
ing to income security, education, and healthcare provisions (United informal sector, including the labour and migrant workers. Infection
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2020). fighting and disaster relief are the top priorities. Additionally, many
economists anticipate the lack of workforce post-lockdown since the
migrant workers may not return to work soon, and even the compa-
4.7 | Long-term economic impacts nies would have to implement substantial measures for workers'
safety and to provide other benefits, multiple shifts to maintain work-
COVID-19 has changed the world fundamentally with locked down force efficiently.
nations to protect their people while the businesses stay on hold, the
5 | DI SCU SSION
The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in not only the forgone

incomes associated with morbidity and mortality, but it has also led to
a substantial increase in the private and public expenditures on
healthcare and has a more significant impact on the demographic
structure and human capital of the economy (Lee & McKibbin, 2004).
India had to resort to locking down the entire country for 21 days, to
begin with (BBC News, 2020b). Given the huge informal economy of
the country filled with migrant labour (Chandrasekhar & Ghosh, 2020),
the lockdown has already led to the loss of livelihood for many, as a
result of which hundreds and thousands of migrant laborer's started
leaving their workplaces to walk hundreds of miles toward their
respective hometowns, leading to lockdown violations. To make the
lockdown a success, it is pertinent for the government of India to take
measures so that the masses stay inside, thereby giving the country
time to prepare for the crisis. This can only be done by providing some
economic support to the vulnerable groups of people (Mukharji, 2020).
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, India was already under huge fiscal
deficit (Goyal, 2020; NDTV, 2020b). Therefore, it would not be easy
for the government of India to overspend on rescuing the economy.
FIGURE 8 Global outlook and challenges Still, the government has announced some measures to kickstart the
FIGURE 9 Long-term economic

impacts
economy. The financial stimulus proposes 5 kg of wheat or rice and a governor C Rangarajan, problems faced by the businesses have not
kilogram of pulses for free to every low-income family; free-cooking been adequately addressed, and stresses industries like hospitality
gas cylinders to 83 million poor families; one time cash transfer of and tourism need further support from the government. State Bank of
$13.31–$30 million senior citizens and $6.65 a month to about 200 India chief economist Saumya Kanti Ghosh further affirms that an
million poor women; and medical insurance worth $66,000 to every additional package of Rupees 3.55 trillion is required to tackle this cri-
front-line health worker, doctors, nurses, and paramedics to people sis (Business Standard, 2020).
involved in sanitary services (World Economic Forum, 2020b). The pri- With the lockdown in process, the food prices are bound to rise
ority of the financial stimulus proposed is to reach the poor and the sooner than the later, resulting in the poor people being unable to buy
money granted to them under the scheme also needs to reach them. due to no job and insufficient income. Additionally, with the lockdown
On April 03, 2020, the government credited the first installment period of 21 days, a lot of industrial sectors shall remain inactive, lead-
1
of Rupees 500 each to over 40 million Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan ing to uncertain shutdowns or unemployment. In such scenarios, two
accounts of poor women. However, the amount of Rupees 500 each measures may prove handy. One, the innovative ways of managing
per month would not be sufficient for them to spend their entire small and medium enterprises and daily wage earners should be
month, and the grant does not help them much in such circumstances adopted. For instance, the government of Denmark and the United
(NDTV, 2020a). Unlike the United States, where the government Kingdom propose to pay 75 and 80%, respectively, for those workers
announced a $2.2 trillion stimulus on a $20 trillion GDP base and who are unemployed and suffering in such a crisis (The Guard-
Malaysia mobilized 18% of its GDP (Moitra, 2020), India may not be ian, 2020a, 2020b). This strategy would widen the fiscal deficit of the
able to match up with the resources of these developed nations. India country but shall also enable the vulnerable lot to sustain their jobs.
can certainly match up with their policies, though. In other words, Two, the government must provide meaningful support to already dis-
until a vaccine or a cure is not found, the government must plan to tressed agriculture, which further faces the additional burden of
create an additional stimulus of 10% of GDP, so that government reverse migration (Business Line, 2020a, 2020b).
spending continues, and the agrarian homes, migrant workers, and India is a densely populated country with a high level of poverty
daily wage earners are safeguarded. This, of course, would put further and inequity (The Washington Post, 2020). Nobel Laureates Amartya
pressure on the already soaring fiscal deficit, but there is a need to Sen and Abhijeet Banerjee along with Former FBI governor Raghuram
balance between the two evils. As pointed out by former RBI Rajan opine that a large number of Indians may be pushed into dire
TABLE 2 Economic policy suggestions for India to manage the Covid-19 challenges
S. No. Theme Policy implications

1. Fiscal policy and stimulus package a Additional fiscal support in the form of an economic package of up to $91 billion for
health services and healthcare infrastructure-related services is required, including
sufficient resources to ensure staffing and testing facilities, and for further mitigation
measures (Roy, 2020).
b The government should plan to raise an additional fiscal stimulus of up to 10% of the
GDP (currently proposes economic package stands at 1% of GDP) (Moitra, 2020).
c As specified in Section 4.5, the RBI must ease the bad-loan classification norms and
widen the scope of the banks to raise the lending ceiling to help the profoundly
impacted businesses, that is expanding the fiscal limits of the state and the center for
one-year monetary financing.
2. Industry-specific measures As discussed in Section 4.2, the government needs to implement targeted and temporary
fiscal measures to specifically focus on the business in sectors that are profoundly
impacted by the sharp downturn in travel and tourism, and further provide assistance
for such industries including—aviation, tourism, retail, restaurants, etc.
3. Small business and daily wages a As discussed in Section 5, referring to the measures adopted by the governments in the
United Kingdom and Denmark, the food prices of India, too, shall soon rise to a level
that the poor without job and income will be unable to purchase. Hence, with an
increase in unemployment, the government may partly pay their salaries, so that the
job sustains.
b It is crucial that the government spending on agrarian homes, migrant workers, and
their employers continues. Hence, to further ensure that the banks continue to lend,
the interest rates need to be reduced by at least 200 basis points from the current
levels (Moitra, 2020).
c Distribute (without any cost) the 80 million tons of food grain stocks to the vulnerable
people (Roy, 2020)
d As discussed in Section 4.3, the package for small- and medium-sized business must be
proposed
4. Current economic measures As highlighted in Section 5, the money granted to the poor as per the current economic
stimulus is not sufficient. Hence, additional cash payments to millions of self-employed
and daily wage earners must be provided.
5. Goods and services tax (GST)-related According to the findings in Section 4.5, the government must defer the taxes for other
measures industries, namely, aviation, hospitality, and small companies, so that such firms do not
shut down or create irreversible job losses.
6. Global outlook and challenges As highlighted in Section 4.6, the state governments are in the frontline of providing
public health and other services, and hence should receive enough funds to avoid a
credit crunch. Recently, the central bank in India announced widening access for
foreign investors buying government bonds and also seek inclusion on Indian debt into
global markets (Bloomberg, 2020).
7. Long-term economic impacts a As suggested by Kaushik Basu (during a television broadcast) to Roy (2020), three
weeks post the initial lockdown; the government must resume the transport lockdown,
to begin with, the supply chain, which shall involve restarting the trains and airlines,
with an exemption of reservations up to 25%, to control the number of people
traveling together and also enable the movement of the people, the goods, and
ultimately the economy.
b The longer-term measures must bring back some key productions such as the
necessary pharmaceutical ingredients, to India from China, or as suggested by
Chatterjee (2020), the government is encouraging India's API manufacturers to expand
capacity or at least revive and revitalize the public sector drug makers.
c Over the long run, India should continue to maintain the supply-side reforms that
reduce the cost of doing business, so that the markets shall attract foreign firms that
are reluctant to depend on Chinese markets.
poverty and starvation due to unexpected loss of income and liveli- food grains can be one option for handling the crisis, but it is compli-
hood during the lockdown (The Indian Express, 2020). An interim cated in a diverse society like India. In August 2010, the Supreme
solution to this problem may be the distribution of surplus food grains Court of India asked the Central Government to consider distributing
among the poor. Food Corporation of India (FCI) normally holds a con- the food grains for either free or at minimal costs (Press Trust of
siderable surplus of food grains in its godowns. Distributing these India, 2010a). However, the Central Government at that time believed
that it is not possible to implement this suggestion and distribute the level government officials. Further, we recommend such policies
food grains for free (Press Trust of India, 2010b). The Supreme Court derived from the matters less catered to, which may assist in design-
further clarified that since food grains are stored in such a surplus, ing significant measures, and also direct attention towards relevant
and they are rotting in the godowns, free distribution of food grains is issues.
an order and not a mere suggestion (Press Trust of India, 2010a). The
situation after 10 years is different from 2010. It is not only the prob-
lem of rotting food grains but also the pandemic, which makes the 6 | POLICY IMPLICATIONS
free distribution of food grains even more important in 2020. As of
March 2020, FCI has three times the buffer stock of wheat, rice, and There is an urgent need to take immediate steps to not only contain
paddy than what India's needs (The Print Team, 2020). Besides, India the spread of the virus but also to address the most affected sectors
is staring at a bumper harvest this year, which is going to increase fur- of the industry. With some measures already been announced by the
ther the supply of grains, putting more strain on the warehouses (Agri government, several other industries, including auto, aviation, tourism,
Business, 2020). This calls for a resolution of the two problems of and hospitality are still expecting a complete sector-specific economic
oversupply and battling hunger during the pandemic by distributing relief (Mondal, 2020). A combination of monetary, fiscal, and financial
the surplus food grains to the poor for free. This may be possible if market measures is needed to help in minimizing the impact of the
the government procures the rabi harvest in much larger quantities outbreak on the businesses and people. Therefore, based on our anal-
(about 74 million tonnes) since the private markets collapsed due to ysis of the interviews of economic experts, we suggest the following
the lockdown and distribute it for free (ET Bureau, 2020c). policy implications to kickstart the economy during and after the lock-
Regarding the strategy of a lockdown period, citizens might be down (Table 2).
willing to tolerate such surveillance if they believed it was temporary.
Otherwise, such suppression strategies may work for a while but then
eventually require an exit policy. If the government imposes huge 7 | CONC LU SION
social and economic costs and the virus affects a huge proportion of
the population, then such a situation may turn out to be very harsh on Despite the potential loss of life and the large-scale disruption to a
the government officials and politicians. large number of people, many government authorities have been
Garrett (2008) suggests that the key to mitigating a pandemic is reluctant to invest in their public health care facilities sufficiently. At
the successful cooperation and planning of all levels of government. the same time, the majority of infectious diseases tend to originate
On the other hand, through public opinion surveys, Brahmbhatt and from emerging countries, for instance, China, in the case of COVID-
Dutta (2008) opine that during the times of infectious outbreaks and 19 (Kimball, 2008). Experts continue to warn that such zoonotic dis-
under the prevailing conditions of mass global communications, peo- eases will continue to pose a threat to millions of people across the
ple at times hold high perceptions of the risk of getting infected or, globe, with similar disruption to an integrated world economy
even dying from the disease. Hence, the review recommends the opti- (Baldwin & Mauro, 2020).
mal use of public information strategies to reduce the unwarranted In this paper, we looked at the recent work in economics that
panic, which is also evident currently in the case of COVID-19. Hence, helps formulate the appropriate policies and procedures to take
such information communication problems point to the evolution of corrective actions in such episodes and to broaden the conceptual
the emergency management system. Quality communication and and analytical measures further. We employ a qualitative research
coordination among organizations are crucial. Information sharing and design, based on sentiment analysis to understand 15 industry
communication are considered vital tools for the coordination of pre- experts' opinion concerning the economic impact of COVID-19.
vention and management of infectious diseases (Qiu, Chu, Mao, & The study makes a theoretical as well as applied contribution to the
Wu, 2018). The post-lockdown period shall require a complete debt field of study. While theoretically, it contributes to the field of pan-
restructuring package to ensure that all the businesses can sustain the demic research, public health management, and disaster manage-
downward hit and restart healthy again. This requires measures to ment; in an applied sense, we propose a set of measures for the
stimulate spending both at an individual front and for the employees policymakers based out in India, as well as in other emerging
(Moitra, 2020). nations of the world. Such measures shall help deepen our under-
In our attempt to address preliminary issues concerning the eco- standing of the links between infectious diseases, individual
nomic impact of COVID-19 outbreak under seven themes, our analy- choices and behavior, public health policies, and the economy and
sis suggests that with a rapid increase in the number of confirmed further provide ways to improve public health policies to sustain
cases of coronavirus and the limited fiscal space across India, there is the economic well-being of the society ultimately.
a need for more effective fiscal policies that can fight the virus, pro- At present, the impact of a new animal disease differs significantly
vide disaster relief, so that the people do not suffer from hunger and between developed and developing nations. Hence, better coordina-
unemployment, and adjust the aggregate demand in line with the tion and global cooperation in the field of public health and economic
potential output. By evaluating the expert opinions under each aspect, development are essential, specifically to prevent the spread of such
we reflected on the issues of interest to the policymakers and top- diseases over time (Rich & Niemi, 2017).
ORCID where-are-the-big-bang-fiscal-stimulus-measures/article31338920.
Gagan Deep Sharma https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5379-0761 ece?utm_source=udmprecommendation_opinion&utm_medium=
rightbar&transactionId=nHrZK84pWVJpbo2z4wExbACG8ASfooOw#
Mansi Jain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4066-1386
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Received: 15 May 2020 Revised: 17 May 2020 Accepted: 22 May 2020

Policy response to the economic challenge from COVID-19 in

Gagan Deep Sharma | Gaurav Talan | Mansi Jain

University School of Management Studies,

TABLE 1 Sentiment analysis

Theme Very negative Moderately negative Moderately positive Very positive

Current economic measures 32% 26% 29% 13%

FIGURE 1 Sentiment analysis (Graph)

economic impacts on different industries including travel and tourism

mates that aviation industry may face a loss of 29 billion US dollars of

seven themes discussed further in this section.

FIGURE 4 Industry-specific measures

F I G U R E 5 Measures related to small

FIGURE 6 Keywords for current economic measures

The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in not only the forgone

FIGURE 9 Long-term economic

S. No. Theme Policy implications

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