Asking the roadblock for solutions.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic "Economic activity continues to remain weak and will lead to a 6.1 percent contraction in India's GDP in the current fiscal, a foreign brokerage said." India's economy also contracted in 1957-58, in 1965-66, in 1972-73, and, for the last time, in 1979-80, with agriculture growth also falling on each occasion, wrote Harish Damodaran. This is the first time that agriculture is expected to grow while the general economy will shrink, the only question being by how much. The problem is that this growth comes with distortions in markets because of the fall in demand due mainly to closure of restaurants and hotels. Agriculture has been growing at over 3% in the last six years and "A big contributor to this is growth in the livestock and fishing sub-sectors, which posted around 8% and 11% annual increases between 2013-14 and 2018-19 respectively," wrote Prof Himanshu. Between April and June this year, sale of chickens fell by 35-40%, eggs by 15-20% and sale of fish and seafood fell as well. Other businesses are also feeling the pain. "Now, according to a survey done by the state-run National Small Industries Corp , about 90% of the country's small businesses -- estimated at over 63 million -- have resumed operations after India's lockdown, but a vast majority are operating well below their capacity," wrote an editorial in the Mint. "They remain strapped for cash, weighed down by logistical challenges, and painfully short of orders." "Businesses have been generous with suggestions -- everything from putting money in the hands of the consumer to higher government spending. Industry bodies have been lobbying for goods and services tax (GST) rate cuts, which in theory could translate into demand in the short term," wrote Gautam Das. Over 100 factories started producing N95 face masks during the pandemic but the government banned exports while allowing imports free of duty. As a result factories are running at 20-30% capacity but still there is oversupply. Though India has improved in the World Bank's ease of doing business from number 142 to number 63 last year, "India continues to be a world beater in terms of bureaucratic 'killer apps'," which "trip business folk at every step," wrote R Jagannathan. "A staffing services firm, TeamLease, released a report in July pointing out that companies have to grapple with over 1,500 laws, 69,000 compliances, and 7,000 filings at various levels of government." Not just contraction, India is facing stagflation, which is a combination of stagnation with inflation, and will need a long list of structural reforms to get back to 7% growth, wrote Sudipto Mundle. Even so it will take a long time. Anything that takes time is out. Elections will come sooner.