Do it yourself

A recent media report highlighted remarkable reduction in the infant mortality rate (IMR) of India. India’s IMR improved from 47 in2010 to just 28 in 2022, bringing it closer to the global average of 27. ( see here ) Much contrary to the popular perception, India achieved one of the best Covid vaccination rates in the world. As per the latest available data close to two billion doses of Covid vaccines have been administered, defying all the logistic challenges. These are just two success stories from India’s public health sector. Recognizing these remarkable achievements, t he World Health Organization (WHO) recently honored more than a million Asha Workers of India for their commendable public service, especially during the pandemic. It is rather unfortunate that not much of the urban population is even aware of the existence of Asha (the frontline health workers). Many mistake Asha workers for Aanganwadi workers. Even though millions have “liked” the pictures of Asha workers ad...

In past couple of months a number of research reports have expressed concerns over the rural demand in the wake intense second wave of pandemic and subsequent lockdown of economic activities. Some consumer facing corporates have also expressed similar sentiment in their interaction with analysts and investors. The popular views seems to be that unlike last summer, when the rural demand remained resilient despite a wider and stringent lockdown, this year the demand may not show similar resilience. Wider and deeper spread of infection this time is one of the primary reasons behind these concerns. Rising stress in household and unorganized sector is also expected the discretionary spending in check. In this context, there are few points that need to be noted by investors before forming a negative view on consumption theme. Record production in crop year 2020-2021 Firstly, as per the third advance estimates for the 2020-2021 crop year, the agriculture ministry has expected record foo...