Covid-19 kills small biz, but helps tailors

Covid-19 and the cessation of economic activity might has affected people who thrive on small businesses in the city, but it has also provided employment for a few. One such is K. Venkateshwarlu, who stitches face masks and sells sanitisers on the roadside.

Fifty-year-old Venkateshwarlu, a tailor, is earning `500-`700 per day by making masks. His shop on a footpath was running into heavy losses earlier, and was shut during the lockdown. He is now confident he can pay his house rent and debts if his business runs for another six months.

“The government has never cared about the tailor community since we are few in number compared to the other backward classes,” Venkateshwarlu said. Ever since readymade garments swamped the market, local tailors have been edged out.

“Once we were a well-todo family. But, after the decline of the tailoring

Once we were a wellto-do family. But, after the decline of the tailoring business, my wife Laks-hmi and I and our two sons Shiva Kumar and Sai Kumar migrated to the city from Narketpally

— K. VENKATESHWARLU

business, my wife Lakshmi and I and our two sons Shiva Kumar and Sai Kumar migrated to the city from Narketpally after I sold my house which had the shop in the front. It has been three years since I came to the city. I was just doing alterations or mending a tear, earning about `150 to `250 per day. My position was so vulnerable that I could not afford the education of my two children,” he recalled.

His 21-year-old son Shiva Kumar stopped studying to help him but the 19-year-old Sai Kumar continued his medical lab technician course until the lockdown put paid to that too.

From Page 1 “I was not in a position to pay my house rent of

`6,000,” he said. He was sitting almost idle all day, living off the 48 kg rice and other dry ration provided by the government and

`1,500 per month, being a ration card holder. “Then, post lockdown, things got better, I started stitching face masks and hand gloves. I have fixed the price of each face mask at `40 and if anyone bargains I sell it for `30. The demand for masks has put my business back on track. Customers suggested I sell hand sanitisers and I do so by selling at `5 above the MRP. I have been partially clearing my house rent arrears pending from March and can afford better food for my family,” Venkateshwarlu said. He said if the business goes well “with Corona’s grace” for six months, he can afford the education of the younger son and lead a respectable life.