Trends for 2022
Published on : Tuesday 11-01-2022
When Covid hit the world in early 2020, the scale of infections and death caused widespread panic leading to stringent lockdown severely impacting routine life,
slowing down the economy by bringing all but essential services to a near halt, and disrupting global supply chains. The year 2021 began on a promising note with the pandemic appearing to be on the wane and vaccines becoming available. But a massive second wave caused many more deaths and at one time, the healthcare infrastructure came under severe strain, the matter exacerbated by the shortage of medical oxygen. On the positive side the economic impact was not as severe as the first wave, with many lessons learned from the stringent lockdown experienced during the previous year.
For India, the mass vaccination campaign was one of the major positives in 2021. The country started its vaccination programme for frontline workers and senior citizens and those with comorbidities on 16th January 2021. As of 31 December 2021, India has administered over 1.44 billion doses overall, including first and second doses of the currently-approved vaccines. Almost 90% of the eligible population have received at least one shot, and 64% of the total population is fully vaccinated. This is no mean feat. On the economic front, as a leading newspaper put it, the picture is neither as bad as the critics claimed nor as good as the government would have us believe. The country continues to attract FDI, GDP has increased marginally and the government was sensitive to the needs of those below poverty line granting them free rations. But unemployment remains a concern with the manufacturing sector not creating enough jobs as expected. The other negatives are high inflation and rising inequality of wealth. Also of great concern is the rising cases of the Omicron variant of Covid, which is now officially recognised as the third wave of the pandemic.
The cover story of this edition of Industrial Automation features the trends that are most likely to impact the industry in 2022. As usual, we invited the views of industry leaders on the lessons learned during 2021 and how those are going to influence decision making in the new year. Of particular relevance is the growing awareness of climate change and sustainability and how companies can contribute towards containing the risks.
We at IED Communications – publishers of Industrial Automation and organisers of Automation Expo series of events – wish all our Readers, Advertisers, Exhibitors and Patrons a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year!
