High Frequency Indicators (HFIs) are being monitored to track the progress of economic recovery in India since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. As per the latest information, full recovery has been achieved in respect of 19 FPIs, out of 22 HFIs. Latest levels in the last three months are higher than their pre-pandemic levels in the corresponding months of 2019.
Among the 19 FPIs, there are several indicators whose recovery is way beyond 100 per cent, such as E-Way bills by volume, merchandize exports, coal production, rail freight traffic, fertilizers sales, PMI services, power consumption, tractors sales, cement production, port cargo traffic, fuel consumption, air cargo traffic. Maximum recovery of 367 per cent has been witnessed in volume of UPI. The data suggests that not only the recovery is complete; the economic growth is now gathering momentum over the pre-pandemic levels of output. This is further confirmed by the estimates of GDP recently released for Q2 of 2021-22 that Year on Year growth in real terms at 8.4 per cent takes the output level higher than the pre-pandemic level of Q2 output in 2019-20.
