Retail and recreation footfall back to September lows

Traffic and emission levels in Mumbai and Delhi have also declined amid second Covid-19 wave

The number of people stepping out to go to retail and recreation spots is down to its lowest in around seven months — back to the level seen during the peak of the first Covid-19 wave.

The numbers are based on search engine Google’s mobility tracker, which uses anonymised location data to track how people are moving during the pandemic. The latest figures are as of April 21. These show that retail and recreation visits are down 41.6 per cent compared to pre-pandemic times. Transit stations and workplaces have also seen a decline (see chart 1).

The fact that people are stepping out a lot less is also borne out by traffic congestion data.

New Delhi traffic is down 71 per cent as the national capital battles a surge in new infections. Financial hub Mumbai has seen an 83 per cent decline in traffic, show the numbers from global location technology firm Tomtom International (see chart 2). It was down less than 25 per cent in January.

Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have halved in both Delhi and Mumbai compared to 2019.

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Nitrogen dioxide comes from vehicles and industrial activity. Both places have shown a decline in emissions over 2019, when compared to the previous week (see charts 3 and 4). Mumbai’s fall, based on Bandra locality data, has been slightly steeper than the decline in Delhi.

Power generation had fallen because of lower industrial activity during the national lockdown in March 2020. Lockdowns have been more localised this time around. Power generation growth for the latest week is at levels similar to what was seen in the previous week. It is around 8.2 per cent higher than the same period in 2019 (see chart 5).

The Indian Railways had seen a significant decline in activity during this time last year. The base effect of 2020 has caused a surge in the current year’s numbers. Both quantity of goods carried and revenues generated are higher because of the effect of comparison to 2020’s lockdown days.