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India Grappling With Sharp Economic Downturn

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - Since being laid off from a garment factory when it
   downsized two months ago, 35-year-old Shrawan Kumar Mandal has been
   making daily visits to a hub of small manufacturing units in Gurugram
   on the outskirts of New Delhi.

   "I spend the whole day going from place to place but I am just not
   getting a break," says Mandal. "It has never been so hard to land a job
   in the last six years. I don't know what has happened."
   He is among tens of thousands of people who have lost jobs as exports
   slump, automobile sales plummet and several sectors like real estate
   experience a downturn. Financial experts say the issue is not whether
   India's economy is sliding but the severity of the crisis.
   The latest numbers paint a gloomy picture. Growth tumbled to 5 percent
   from April to June -- the lowest in six years.

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