Firms find it difficult to sustain business
MUMBAI: Sachin Gala, a leading cloth merchant from Hindmata market, is a worried man today as the state government has announced an extension of the lockdown. The reason — it is a peak business time for the cloth merchants as this is normally the wedding season.
“From February onwards, due to surge of cases and rumours of lockdown, we started losing our customers significantly. Currently, we have zero income. It is more painful this time as we placed large order anticipating that things have gotten back to normal,” said Gala.
Ever since the national lockdown was imposed in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, industrialists, businessmen and the retail sector have borne a huge brunt due to loss of business. The hope of recovery has diminished as India was hit by the second Covid wave in February. The Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industries and Trade (CAMIT) said the effect was more severe this time. “Last year, we had reserves in hand, due to which we could pull through the lockdown. However, this time, we took fresh loans to restart and revive our businesses. We did not anticipate the second wave,” said Mohan Gurnani, chairman, CAMIT. “There are 65,208 small scale units in state, of which, 75-80% are now closed. It will not be possible for owners to sustain if such disruptions continue,” said Gurnani.
Grocery shops said the restricted timings of 7am to 11am have reduced their income by half. “The consumers do not come to shop before 9am and we get just two hours to conduct our business. Home delivery is a very small portion of our business,” said Anil Parekh, owner, Urban Greens, a mini supermarket dealing with groceries in Lalbaug and Byculla. “Our business has gone for a toss as people are no longer ordering like before,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, spokesperson, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India.