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An economist has warned that India’s slowdown is now directly affecting households in a big way, with 40,000 to 50,000 persons having forced to surrender their commercial vehicles till now due to non-payment of dues. “The situation is very grim. Our data says that the number is around 40,000 to 50,000 across the country,” said SP Singh, senior fellow at Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).
In an interview with business daily Mint, Singh said that the economic situation at present was much worse than what it was in 2012-13 when the international mortgage crisis took place. The economist added that the situation in in fact was worse than what it was during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09.
Singh said that the crisis affected almost every commercial vehicle owner, from one-tonne light commercial vehicle to multi axle trailer owners. “It includes all the goods vehicles as we call them the utility vehicles,” he added.
Going into the reasons behind the crisis, Singh said that the cargo offering had been declining for the last two years, and demonetisation and the implementation of Goods and Services Tax only exacerbated the crisis.
“People were waiting for things to improve, which was never going to happen,” he was quoted as saying.
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