Rural distress looms: dip in crop prices, remittances; rising Covid cases

With most migrants having returned home, another important source of rural demand, remittances from urban India — money migrants sent home — is little more than a trickle. (Representational Image)

The rural sector may have held out the only sliver of hope amid the broader collapse in the first-quarter GDP numbers but there are fresh pointers to a brewing crisis in the hinterland that could stall growth in the coming quarters.

There are at least three key stress points. While the over 3% agriculture growth in the first quarter factored in strong Rabi procurement, with high-price…