THE A,B,C,D.... OF 2020

We all over the world have never waited so anxiously for a year to end. 2020 is finally over and with 2021, there is new hope that our lives this year will once go back to the “old normal” and not the “new normal” which we today call life.

If Covid dominated 2020, it is vaccination which will dominate 2021.

And as we start this brand new year, lets take a quick look back at the A, B, C, D… of 2020 – the best way to get a synopsis of the year gone by.

The year that was:

A – Atmanirbhar is the new buzzword of this year and maybe of the coming new decade too

B – Bitcoin or cryptocurrency almost quadrupled in value this year

C – Corona or Covid-19, a word we never even knew of at the beginning of the year, went on to change our lives so much this year.

D – Dubious distinction of corruption when India emerged as the country with the highest bribery rate of 39% in the Asian region

E – Elections became a mockery in USA when Trump refused to accept his defeat

F - FPIs pump Rs 58,694 crore in November - highest monthly inflow in history and through this entire year

G – GST Council decided that it was all about state compensation

H – Head held high, India did not succumb to pressure and opted to stay out of the RCEP deal

I – IPO markets had lesser issues but never have the returns been as high as now – Happy Minds literally blew the mind!

J – Jio broke all records in deal making, that too in pandemic times - of the $40-billion FDI during April-September, $10.2 billion came from Reliance Jio-Facebook deal

K - Kamath Panel’s report on debt restructuring of corporate borrowers facing stress due to the pandemic got a huge thumbs up from the RBI

L – Lakshmi Vilas Bank saga turned sordid, pressing some panic but it all ended when it was decided to merge it with DBS Bank

M – Masks is the way we now show our face to the world – without a mask, there is really no getting out of the house or even meeting people not people in the immediate family circle. Its become an industry in itself.

N – New Normal is what all have been talking about and we will experience more of this in 2021 too.

O – Online is the new way of life – right from education, banking and even buying day-to-day necessities of life.

P – Postpone or not to postpone the NEET and JEE exams polarized the nation but despite pressure, the Govt held on and went ahead with it

Q – Q1FY21 and Q2FY21 GDP came in negative, which means technically we are into recession.

R – RBI has undoubtedly done its job very well, rising up like a phoenix through the mound of ashes.

S – Shameful is what we all felt when we saw the plight of migrant labourers, forced to walk back hundreds of miles, some dying and some scared and some emotionally scarred. They are like the salt in our food – the pandemic showed us India cannot grow without them.

T – Trade surplus stood at 2.4% of the gross domestic product in the latest quarter, compared with a deficit of $7.6 billion, or 1.1% of GDP

U – Unlock was a word which we used for opening up a house or a password but 2020 gave it an all new meaning

V- Vedanta’s delisting saga left everyone hassled and furious.

W – WHO’s role and the way it handled the crisis made us all wonder about its role and relevance

X – Xi of China is probably among the least trusted leaders in the world today with the covering up of the pandemic spread and releasing no data on its vaccine efficiency

Y – Yes Bank gets rescued at the behest of the Govt by SBI, ICICI, HDFC and Kotak, leaving many wondering why this urgency when PMC continued to suffer

Z – Zero is the word we all want to hear – zero covid cases.