With a sudden spike in the number of Covid cases across the country and the imposition of various restrictions by different states, the business of various verticals of goods has gone down by a neutral average of 45% in the last 10 days.
According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) National President BC Bhartia, “The total retail trade in the country is about Rs 125 lakh crore, Due to various restrictions of Covid19, there has been an average decline of 45 percent in the business across the country.”
“The out-of-town buyer is not going out of his city, whereas the consumers are also going to the market to buy goods only when it is really important. Due to this double whammy, the business of the country has fallen down badly, on which the central and all the state governments need to pay attention,” he said.
However, Bhartia has asked the Central Government and the Chief Ministers of all the states to take all possible steps to prevent Covid from further spreading, but besides restrictions, the commercial and economic activities should also go on smoothly side by side.
The research organization of CAIT, the CAIT Research and Trade Development Society”, has conducted a survey amongst the traders from January 1 to January 6, in 36 cities of different states of the country, to find out the impact of the various restrictions imposed by the local administration due to the increase in the cases of Covid
The survey findings have revealed that the country’s domestic trade has declined by an average of about 45 percent in the last week. The main reason for this decline is the panic among people due to the third wave of Corona, the not reluctant mood of traders to come to distribution goods from neighboring cities, a money crunch, large sums of money getting stuck in credit, and the imposing of various covid restrictions without consulting the traders.
Roughly 35% in FMCG, 45% in electronics,50% in mobiles, 30% in daily consumption items, 60% in footwear, 30% in jewelry, 65% in toys, 65% in gift items, 40% in builder hardware, 50% in sanitaryware, 30% in apparel, 30% in cosmetics 25%, Furniture 40%, Furnishing fabrics 40%, among others have seen a decline in sales.
Bhartia also stated the business of about Rs. 4 lakh crore was expected during the wedding season, but due to the various restrictions imposed by the state governments across the country, a steep drop is seen in the business of nearly 75 %.