Business sentiments during India's national lockdown: Lessons for second and potential third wave.

Unlabelled: The implementation of the COVID-19 national lockdown announced suddenly in March 2020 in India provided a unique opportunity to capture real-time changes in business sentiments during episodes of unexpected and sudden disruptions. Using a logit-probability model to analyse data of this natural experiment showed that firms' 6-months ahead sentiments for its financial condition worsened drastically during lockdown compared to firms surveyed immediately prior to the announcement. Further, smaller firms showed a relatively higher impact.