An image of dried coconut being laid out inside an artificial football turf has been doing the rounds on social media as a symbol of the ill-fate that had befallen turfs, which were once thronged by football fans and fitness freaks.
Artificial turfs were mushrooming in Kochi city when the lockdown shut them down, leaving many operators in the red. At the last count, there were 30-odd such turfs in the city.
Jaison Lawrence invested in a turf at Panampilly Nagar soon after his return from abroad and followed it up with an investment of around ₹1 crore in a bigger facility with two football turfs and archery fields on an acre at Edappally. “Football turfs were completed while other works got stalled when the lockdown was announced. Now I am in deep trouble and the moratorium on loan repayment is of little relief,” he said.
Having retained his staff and the payment of rent only deferred and not waived, Mr. Lawrence is now forced to look for alternative income to stay afloat.
Very few operators own land, which means the majority have to cough up a hefty rent as high as ₹1 lakh in prime locations. Besides, turfs entail an investment of ₹35 lakh to ₹70 lakh depending on their size and quality.
“Not many can afford the current zero-income situation. Business even after reopening remains doubtful since the majority of the clients were corporate employees shuttling between the city and their home districts. It remains to be seen how many of them will retain their jobs and the prolonged work-from-home arrangement may keep them away from Kochi,” said Angelo Ambat, who runs a turf near Oberon Mall.
In fact, many operators are expecting as low as 20% of the previous business as they fear that social distancing norms and the general sense of fear would shoo off all but hardcore football fans.
Vinay Singhal, who runs a round-the-clock turf on the Stadium Link Road, can’t completely waive off the revenue share to his investment partners citing the lockdown. He also chose to retain his two migrant staff fearing that replacements would be hard to come by whenever the turf reopens.
“We have no clue when we will be able to reopen and that uncertainty is discomforting,” Mr. Singhal said.