Mumbai: The retail industry in India saw degrowth of 64% during the first half of July, says Retailers Association of India’s latest survey. The recovery in the sector was offset by the disruptions caused due to ad-hoc lockdowns imposed by several states across the country in the last couple of weeks.
RAI said that retailers are already facing huge setbacks in terms of payment of wages and rentals due to very low sales of about 40% as compared to last year, thanks to the extended lockdown.
Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India, said, “It has been a grim start to the second quarter of FY21 with retailers facing huge operational setbacks due to ad-hoc local lockdowns creating confusion and leading to supply chain and staffing issues.”
Despite Unlock 2.0 several state governments like Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam have imposed localised lockdowns after failing to bring rising cases of Covid-19 under control.
Pulkit Baid, Director, Great Eastern Appliances said’ “Things have slowed down due to the localised lockdowns. Momentum in July so far is not the same as seen in June.” Limitations on operational hours and restrictions on the opening of stores on weekends have impacted businesses and further dampened consumer sentiments.
According to Arvind Mediratta, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry sales during the weekend were down by 30-35%. “Such hastily implemented decisions by states undermine investor confidence and would come in the way of making the country ‘Aatmanirbhar’,” he added.
