Calibrate opening-up of economy with vax, says Uday Kotak
Top Searches
Calibrate opening-up of economy with vax, says Uday Kotak
Mayur Shetty & Sidhartha / TNN / Updated: May 27, 2021, 08:05 IST
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEMail
NEW DELHI: Kotak Mahindra Bank vice-chairman and MD Uday Kotak, who is also the outgoing president of industry body CII, believes that states must calibrate opening up while bolstering health infrastructure and vaccinations. He calls for fiscal support to help small businesses and the corporate sector tide over the fresh financial challenge. Excerpts:
How should states calibrate the opening up? How are companies planning to resume operations?
Our decision-making has to be based on experts, knowledge and science. The factors that will work in the next three-four months is the level of vaccination. One of the lessons that Covid 2.0 has taught us is that even if there is wastage, we must create capacity in hospital beds, oxygen and medication, rather than run
On the impact of the second wave of the pandemic on the GDP, Kotak said the initial feedback suggests that it was adversely impacting the economy and also the growth.
With the world s worst outbreak of COVID pandemic stalling a nascent economic recovery, the government has begun assessing the impact of the second wave of infections on different sectors and may look at providing support at an appropriate time to segments requiring fiscal help. Some of the economic indicators, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections, still provide confidence and incoming data will throw some more light on the state of the economy, sources said. Services sectors like hospitality, tourism and aviation which had just started recovering were hit hard by the second wave of COVID, the sources said, adding these segments might need some support on an urgent basis from the government.
Representative image
MUMBAI: Private banks have scaled down their unsecured loans portfolio in the wake of the pandemic last year, which has reduced the risk of defaults during the second wave.
Private banks have shifted focus to small business loans that are secured by a government guarantee. This was done under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) announced by the government in the wake of Covid. Another segment where banks have been aggressive is home loans, which saw unexpected demand in the fourth quarter despite the pandemic.
Kotak Mahindra Bank said during its earnings call that it has reduced its unsecured portfolio to 5.8% of the loan book in FY21 from 7.5% earlier. Given that the bank had hardly grown its loan book during the year, it meant that the lender had shrunk its unsecured book.
Domestic stocks looked set to see a gap-down start on Tuesday, following an overnight steep fall in US stocks amid fears of rising inflation in the world’s largest economy. Asian markets were all in deep red and technical charts for key domestic indices hinted at profit booking ahead.
Here s breaking down the pre-market actions:
STATE OF THE MARKETS
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 205 points, or 1.37 per cent, lower at 14,783.50, signalling that Dalal Street was headed for a gap-down start on Tuesday.
Tech View: Nifty likely to see profit booking
Nifty50 formed a bullish Doji kind of candle on Monday, indicating indecisiveness among investors. The trading range was narrower than the previous session, which is likely a hint of a slowdown in the upward journey as well as profit taking. Analysts advised traders to avoid Nifty trades for the time being, considering the narrow trading range, and shift focus to stock-specific opportunities.