Restaurants expect revival but retailers still unhappy
With Unlock 3.0 beginning from Saturday, the government has announced lifting restrictions on night movement, hours of operations for restaurants and retail outlets, and gymnasia.
But the move has, so far, received mixed response from the sectors. While restaurateurs and gym owners are enthusiastic, retailers expect little respite.
According to Anurag Katriar, president, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), lifting of night curfew will boost the fortunes of the restaurant sector as it will bring late-evening diners back to the outlets. “Late hour takeaways will also begin. This was one request we made to the government after Unlock 2.0 that they have heeded to. This will mean a restoration of business activity as far as the restaurant sector goes, which is a good sign,” said Katriar.
Traditionally, sit-down restaurant customers contribute over 35 per cent to the total sales, and operators were in dire straits since lockdown rules first prohibited dine-ins and then barred late dine-ins.
But restaurateurs have reasons for concern. Despite repeated attempts, serving of alcohol has not yet been allowed. This will lead to further loss of business, the NRAI has said.
Owners of fitness centres and gymnasia are upbeat, too. Neha Motwani, co-founder and CEO at fitness platform Fitternity, said they were gearing up to bring momentum back by guiding partners.
“We are supporting our partner gyms and fitness studios to create strict safety guidelines and personalised technology based inventory mapping in order for them to operate at optimum capacity to ensure a safe working environment,” she said. Fitternity that has 12,000 partners in over 20 cities.
After removal of these restrictions, retailers and mall operators are expecting a marginal improvement in footfall.
The country’s largest traders body Confederation of All India Traders, however, estimates that till public transport is allowed and vaccine for Covid-19 is available, it is unlikely that large number of consumers would move out freely for shopping.
Mohit Goel, CEO of real estate firm Omaxe, said the removal of night curfew would help malls in attracting higher footfalls as the food and beverage (F&B) retailers will now be able to operate for longer hours.
“F&B is one of the major segments that bring in footfall in a mall. Presently, malls are operating at 30-40 per cent capacity. With this move, we expect more visitors to turn up for evening meals. Once cinemas are allowed to open, we can hope pre-covid level footfalls will return,” Goel said.
Omaxe owns over half a dozen malls in India.
According to Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India, the latest guidelines are in line with the set of standard operating procedures that its members had prepared.
“We are committed to the states in ensuring uniform and speedy opening of all retail stores. Retailers will need to prioritise safety and hygiene measures to reassure consumers that they will have a safe shopping experience.”
Rajagopalan said while business during the last quarter was poor, “new investments in the retail sector was the need of the hour”.
The uncertainty over localised rules, however, continues to play a dampener.
Restaurateurs say despite repeated attempts, serving of alcohol has not been allowed