India’s 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit indefinitely postponed

India’s tenth Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit will be indefinitely postponed.

The biennial summit, originally conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2003 was scheduled to begin today. Instead, the announcement to postpone the event comes as Gujarat—the state where it is normally held—experiences a large spike in COVID-19 cases.

Gujarat documented 13,000 new cases in the past six days, a spike from 2,700 in the final six days of 2021.

The Summit planned to bring in over 17,000 business leaders from 27 partner nations to bolster business networking, encourage knowledge sharing and create strategic partnerships for socioeconomic development. Prime Minister Modi created the event as part of his signature Aatmanitbhar Bharat movement for a self-sufficient India. Normally, the Summit is a valuable engine for India’s economic growth.

In 2021, India experienced the deepest recession in its history. In December 2021, India experienced an economic rebound due to Narendra Modi’s rigorous government intervention. Cancellation of today’s summit, coupled with the new spike in Omicron cases, foreshadows the threat of further economic decline. Despite the cases, expect the Modi administration to focus heavily on halting the spread of the variant, and less on further economic stimulus.