Amid the economic slowdown, the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic has hit the revenue of Indian retailers selling non-essential stuff like clothes and jewellery by 75 percent so far. This outbreak is likely to cause major job losses, said an industry body on Monday.
Around 40 percent of the six million employees employed in India’s retail sector could likely face job loss in the next four months if the centre does not intervene, Kumar Rajgopalan, chief executive, Retailers Association of India (RAI), told Reuters.
“Unless the government provides some relief, revenues will slide by 90 percent in the next six months,” Rajgopalan said, suggesting halt on the payment of loans, and on the payments of the goods and services tax (GST) and other government duties.
The RAI represents around 500,000 stores in India, comprising of brands like V-Mart, Shopper’s Stop, Future Group and Avenue Supermarts, which operates the grocery chain D-Mart.
On Sunday, Future Retail, which owns hypermarket Big Bazaar, said the pandemic, has caused a “degrowth of revenue”.
“The expected impact of COVID-19 as of now is hard to ascertain,” it said in a filing to the exchanges on Sunday.
