New virus strain sparks fear among Retailers

Mumbai, Dec 28 (KNN) As India has put international travel restrictions citing the new “out of control” strain of Coronavirus, retailers who breathed a sigh of relief during festive season are again scared of being impacted heavily.

Speaking on the current state of the retail industry, Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI), said, “While the festive and the muted wedding season aided some recovery for certain segments, the lack of inbound travel of Non-Resident Indians during the winter has had a negative impact on sales.

''Retail businesses may get further impacted by international travel restrictions being imposed due to the new strain of the virus. Furthermore, with local level restrictions coming back into play, retailers are moving towards 2021 with cautious optimism. However, the industry is hopeful of achieving about 85 per cent of pre-pandemic levels of business in the next six months,” he added.

Meanwhile, according to the 10th edition of the Retail Business Survey by the RAI indicates a steady month-on-month recovery for retail businesses across India with sales in November 2020 being 13 per cent short of last year’s sales on a Y-o-Y comparison.

In November 2020, Consumer Durables & Electronics category continued to recover with sales at 12 per cent (Y-o-Y) and Food & Grocery category has started to indicate sales growth at 5 per cent (Y-o-Y), while the apparel & clothing segment is still reeling under pressure with around -12 per cent (Y-o-Y) behind pre-pandemic sales.

Levels of recovery differ across regions as restrictions begin to ease in a capricious manner across states. Western and Eastern India are indicating a slower recovery with sales at -18 per cent and -17 per cent respectively (Y-o-Y), while Northern and Southern regions are both progressing at -9 per cent, on a Y-o-Y comparison.

''Recovery will need unconventional solutions and government support. At this juncture, all efforts are required to boost the local economy and help revive retail, saving millions of jobs. Retail in India which is sized around USD 854 billion continues to be one of the country’s largest industries that makes up for over 10 per cent of the GDP,'' the retailers body said.