Recovery tracker: Workplace visits up 26%, vehicle registrations 2%

Multiple weekly economic activity indicators trended higher during the latest week.

Workplace visits were 25.9 per cent higher than the baseline value for early 2020, before the pandemic took hold, shows data from search engine Google. It uses anonymised location data to track how people are moving during the pandemic. Retail and recreation visits were lower than the previous week. Grocery and pharmacy visits grew.

People registered 395,000 vehicles. This is 2.1 per cent higher than the 386,000 vehicles registered in the same period in 2019. The number also showed a week-on-week increase. There were 293,000 vehicles registered in the previous week.

The Indian Railways registered a 7.3 per cent increase in the quantity of goods carried. The amount of money it made from carrying these goods, called freight revenue, was up 16.1 per cent.

Electricity consumption in the country rose last week and the gap over 2019 levels widened due to higher generation. The power producers generated 4,517 million units (MU) of electricity per day on average in the latest week based on reporting day data. It was 4,314 million units per day in the previous week.

In comparison, power generation was 3,807 MU per day during the corresponding week in 2019.

Major metros recorded a fall in traffic congestion. Monday morning 9 a.m. traffic congestion in New Delhi was 36 per cent lower than 2019, compared to the 28 per cent gap seen in the previous week. Mumbai traffic congestion was down 32 per cent compared to the previous week’s 27 per cent gap.

There were fewer flights and fewer passengers in the latest week than before. The average number of daily flights dropped to 2,597 from 2,637 in the previous week. The average number of daily passengers fell to 331,000 from 347,000.

Business Standard tracks these indicators as a way of getting a weekly picture of the economy ahead of official macroeconomic data which is often released with a lag. Analysts globally have been tracking similar indicators. It presents a more up-to-date picture of how the economy is reacting to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which began more than two years ago.

The Google data is released with a lag. The latest is as of August 24. Traffic data is as of Monday morning 9am. All other data is as of Sunday, August 28.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor