The third Lockdown is going to end on 17th May 2020 but PM Narendra Modi on 8th May already indicated that the next lockdown is on its way. With back to back lockdowns, everything except shops for essential products was closed for over a month. Due to lockdowns caused by Covid-19 Panadamic, every sector is in loss and the retail sector is not different. As per the report, massive losses have been reported in the retail sector which directly impacted the GST revenues of the central and state Government.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) released a statement on 12th May, which states that “The Indian retail sector has lost a gigantic sum of approximately Rs 7.50 lakh crore business in this period which has resulted in GST revenue loss to central and state governments to the tune of about Rs 1.15 lakh crores,”. But as expected, it is not the only thing that needs to be worried about, the report also indicates that, even after the government lifts lockdown, retailer’s customer turnover is expected to remain as low as 20% due to lower number of customers as compared to the pre-COVID-19 situation.
CAIT further added that about 20% or every one in five retailers of the country will face trouble due to Covid-19 in their businesses, they will face financial crunch resulting in shutting shops. This will also cause a bad impact on the other 10% of the traders resulting in the possibility of collapse. Post-lockdown, businesses have to cooperate and adapt to continue their businesses and survive. In this matter, the trade organization also responded that Businesses have to adopt modern ways and methods and digital payment, these will be in the focus to meet the requirement of the changing times. The exact wording in the CAIT’s statement was “Upgraded and modernized retail format, health safety precautionary measures, round the clock internal security systems, adoption of digital and contactless payments and other business technologies will be the new paradigm of businesses,”.
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Further added that Kirana stores will also have to adopt the Online medium and platforms which will increase their reach and it will make massive changes to the retail sector. Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning here that Reliance Retail has already started the integration process to integrate physical stores with its e-commerce platform “JioMart”.
