The second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in India has led to imposition of localised lockdowns that have resulted in a sharp decline in demand for natural gas. It has been estimated that city gas demand has dropped by 40-50 per cent whereas demand from the industrial sector could witness a drop of 20-25 per cent.
Further, several liquefied natural gas containers have also been diverted from India owing to reduced demand. Meanwhile, the second wave is expected to decrease around 2.8 percentage points from gross domestic product growth in 2021-22, hampering a promising economic recovery.