Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani says GDP growth estimate of 11% is ‘conservative’

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New Delhi: The 11% GDP growth rate projected for the next fiscal by the Economic Survey is “conservative” and the figure could be higher depending on the pandemic situation, according to Naukri.com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani.

The serial entrepreneur noted that while the pandemic has helped remove some of the mental blocks about technologies like video conferencing, “old methods of living, consuming and working” will be back.

“The 11% growth in GDP that Economic Survey has estimated, to my mind, is conservative. If there’s no new wave, if there are no new lockdowns, I do believe the growth should and could be higher. I think sentiment will be back, buying will be back, a lot of the old methods of living, consuming, working will be back. The real issue is has COVID gone away? With some cautious optimism on the COVID front, the one word I would choose is bounce back,” he said while speaking at the ‘2021: Reimagining India in the Next Normal’ event.

Matrix Partners Managing Director Tarun Davda said the year 2021 is going to be about digital leapfrogging.

He explained that digital technologies were a pillar for many industries to continue functioning last year amid the pandemic and that the decade will be a “digital adventure for India”.

Both the executives agreed that most businesses were initially impacted as the lockdown was announced to control the spread of COVID-19 cases but over the course of the year, significant recovery was seen.

They cited examples of companies like Zomato, Naukri and Ola, which were initially affected by the lockdown as movement was restricted but are now seeing strong growth.

Bikhchandani further said as mass vaccination happens and normalcy returns, people will get back to socialising.

“However, a few mental blocks have been overcome. I am now prepared to meet on Zoom…Some sort of hybrid model will emerge,” he added.

Davda pointed out that during the lockdown, people were able to try new way of doing things.

“Eventually, we will revert back but it will not go back to where it used to be. So there will definitely be some sort of delta shift that has happened,” he added.