Indian retail sector lost Rs 5.50 lac cr: CAIT

Ever since the lockdown was imposed on March 24, the Indian retail sector has lost approximately Rs 5.50 lakh crore during this 40 day period and the country is likely to witness at least 20% of Indian retailers collapsing and winding up their businesses in the next few months, said The Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT).

Covid-19 has caused a huge irreparable dent in Indian retail trade which will have a devastating effect on the whole country said CAIT National President BC Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal.

“Indian retailers do a daily business of around 15,000 crore and the country is in lockdown for over 40 days now that means there is a massive loss of over 5.50 lakh crore of business which is done by 7 crore traders of India,” they said in a statement.

They further added, out of these 7 crore traders, in all likelihood around 1.5 crore traders will have to permanently down the shutters in a few months and a further 75 lakh traders who are dependent on these 1.5 crore traders will fold up in the medium term.

Underscoring the situation, CAIT has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to handhold the trading community and award a substantial package to the traders to ensure their survival.

It added, “It is quite appalling that the Governments both Centre and State have not handhold the non-corporate sector which contributes more than 40% to India’s GDP and accounts for almost one-third of the total workforce of the nation. Instead, the Government has given diktats that all businesses will have to pay their salaries, the banks will continue to charge interest and the landlords will continue to ask for rentals. This is complete one-way traffic where the Government only expects from traders but has offered absolutely nothing at all till date.”