It said that mobility trends are mixed, with the Google workplace index up by 3.3 percentage points (pp) but the retail and recreation index down by 1pp and the Apple driving index down by a whopping 11.2pp.

The Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) fell to 100.6 for the week ended September 5 from the record high of 102.8 the previous week but was still above the pre-pandemic level of 100, the Japanese financial holding company Nomura said on Monday.

It said that mobility trends are mixed, with the Google workplace index up by 3.3 percentage points (pp) but the retail and recreation index down by 1pp and the Apple driving index down by a whopping 11.2pp. Power demand also fell by 4.3% week-on-week after a 0.1% rise last week. In contrast, the labor participation rate inched up to 41% from 40.8%.

“August data have been mixed,” Nomura said.

Ultra-high frequency data like GST E-way bills and railway freight revenues have improved, as has the services PMI (to 56.7 from 45.4 in July).

“Data for auto sales, merchandise trade and the manufacturing PMI (to 52.3 from 55.3 in July) were lacklustre, although this partly reflects supply bottlenecks, in our view,” it said.

The pace of vaccination has picked up to an average of 7.4 million doses per day in September from 5.4 million in August, and around 12% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

As per the Nomura report, this is helping cap mortality rates, even as the number of cases has risen marginally (albeit, largely driven by the state of Kerala).

“We expect GDP growth of 9.2% on-year in FY22, which we recently lowered from 10.4%,” Nomura said, adding that a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is a downside risk but it expects the business cycle to improve.

https://cfo.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/business-resumption-falters-but-still-above-pre-pandemic-levels-nomura/85997288