With India Inc. on lockdown, businesses have taken a hit like never before. A study from Feedback Consulting, a Bengaluru-based B2B market research and business advisory firm, has tried to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on businesses across sectors and the economy through this survey.

Remote working (29%), digital/tech adoption (23%), EHS focus (17%) and de-globalization (18%) are going to be the biggest resets in business, in the post-pandemic world, found the survey. About 46% businesses are also looking to focus more on employee engagement, 66% leaders feel localisation will gain more prominence than ever before.

“In April 2020, about 146 business leaders participated in this web-based survey which was conducted across various sectors including Auto, Agriculture, BFSI, Chemicals, Energy, Pharma, Healthcare, Education, Construction, IT and Services, to name a few,” a release said.

Global economy

The report tries to assess the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy. However, about 35% of the respondents were unable to gauge the situation as it is shrouded in uncertainty. About 33% respondents foresee a significant contraction of the global economy, of which 49% respondents belong to the services sector. Overall, only 17% feel the slowdown will go on till the lockdown is in effect, post which they expect a rapid recovery.

As a result of the pandemic, about 84% of the business leaders expect global supply chains to undergo a major realignment while digital/tech adoption would increase at a faster pace. However, about 77% of the respondents are positive that the hit on businesses will be short term as they expect newer business models to emerge.

The effect the pandemic has had on the volatile global trade will act as a fuel for localisation and 69% also believe it will be more prominent than ever. About 59% of businesses expect working from home to become a norm in a post-pandemic world.

While business leaders have been optimistic in general, they have been critical about the efforts undertaken by the government. One in three business leaders believe India’s recovery will be better than the global economy.