Coronavirus Badly Hits Sales & Revenues of Indian Economy; Millions of Jobs at Stake

Coronavirus impact on Indian Economy:  

The coronavirus outbreak during an economic slowdown has affected revenue in Indian retail sector. The retailers selling non essential items such as clothes & jewellery have been hit by 75% till now. It is expected that it can also lead to a number of job losses, said an industry body.  

Around 40% of the six million employees working in India's modern retail sector are likely lose their jobs in the coming four months if the government does not intervene, as per Kumar Rajgopalan, Chief Executive, Retailers Association of India (RAI). 

He said, "Unless the government gives some relief, revenues will slide by 90 per cent in the next six months. He suggested moratoriums on the payment of loans, & on the payments of the goods and services tax (GST) with other government duties. 

How covid-19 has impacted the stock market? 

The RAI represents almost 500,000 stores in India, which includes brands such as V-Mart, Shopper's Stop, Future Group and Avenue Supermarts, which operates the grocery chain D-Mart. 

Big Bazaar owner Future Retail said the virus has resulted in a "degrowth of revenue". The expected impact of pandemic as of now is hard to ascertain."  

Coronavirus effect on Indian market: 

V-Mart Retailer, a Gurgaon-based fashion retailer is expected to have 30% decline in the revenue from March 15-21 due to store closures. The retailer has shut around 116 of its 265 stores till Saturday. 

Lalit Agarwal, Managing Director, V-Mart Retail said, "Manpower costs are fixed, we are trying to support our staff at least for the next 45 days.”   

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail said that business had been majorly affected without specifying the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. 

In India, covid-19 has threatened the entire economy that was already hit by a slowdown in consumption that has bruised demand for everything from cars to clothes to every single thing. 

The deadly virus which originated in China has infected around 200,000 people worldwide. It led to the lockdown of countries, has impact on global economy and financial markets of the world as well. Delhi has been lockdown from 23 March- 31 March. Indian citizens are requested to follow the orders of the government to fight against the coronavirus outbreak.