Covid-19 pandemic has India scrambling to boost its manufacturing sector

 High-contact services jobs from airlines to hotels and malls to multiplexes were the first to collapse amid protracted lockdowns aimed at containing the virus

For decades, the services industry powered India’s growth and tempered unemployment in the world’s second-most populous nation. The coronavirus pandemic is now leading to calls for an urgent rebalancing of the economy toward manufacturing.

High-contact services jobs from airlines to hotels and malls to multiplexes were the first to collapse amid protracted lockdowns aimed at containing the virus. The decline of the sector, which typically accounts for 55% of the economy, is forcing people to seek work on rural farms or in the undersized manufacturing industry.

Ramesh Jakhar, 55, is among that hit. He used to drive a bus for the Sam International School in New Delhi, where he earned 16,000 rupees ($215) a month. Now he tends buffaloes and sells milk after returning to his village near the capital.

“Times are really tough,” said Jakhar, whose unemployed adult son has also returned to their village with his young family. “We’ve been forced to cut back on what we can spend.”