Covid Impact: Transporters Suffer Rs 1000 Crore Per Day Losses Due To Fresh Restrictions, Lockdowns

MUMBAI: Truckers' body AIMTC on Wednesday said the transporters are suffering losses of around Rs 1,000 crore per day due to the fresh restrictions and weekly lockdowns in some of the states, and these losses spike further if certain relief measures are not taken by the government to mitigate the situation.

On April 12 when restrictions were imposed in Maharashtra, the research unit of the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) had assessed daily loss of about Rs 315 crore per day, AIMTC said in a statement.

According to fresh assessment, the daily losses to the transport industry have mounted to about Rs 1,000 crore per day, which are rising further with intensity and duration of the pandemic-induced lockdowns and curbs, it said.

It sought proactive steps from the government such as on moratorium on equated-monthly installment (EMI) payments, tax and insurance waiver and extension in e-way bill validity to avoid imminent financial crisis min the industry.

The lockdown and night curfew has been extended to other states (after Maharashtra first imposed it), due to rising number of COVID-19 cases, has disrupted the business and financial delinquencies have hit micro loans, MSME and commercial vehicles' financing segment, it said.

"This is going to further deepen the crisis," the AIMTC said.

The intensity and duration of lockdowns and curbs will further hit the sector badly.

Therefore, immediate, prudent and proactive steps must be taken by the government to avoid another crisis in the offing, before it is too late, it warned in the statement.

States such as Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and others have also imposed strict restrictions on the movement of non-essential goods, which has resulted in demand for vehicles going down by about 50 per cent and the subsequent increase in idle capacity, said the statement.