Nagpur: Already adapted to the new normal since last year, firms dealing in financial services have also been able to work during the current weeklong restrictions. Except facing a few hiccups the finance sector has risen to the occasion, say sources in the business.
PSU insurer—Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has been able to meet 79% of the target in terms of polices sold till mid-March, sources said. It is expected that the target of selling over 3.5 lakh policies in the Nagpur division will be easily met by end of March. The progress is like any other normal year despite the lockdown during the initial months of the year 2020, said sources.
Insurance agent Bharat Parekh said the awareness towards insurance has increased during the pandemic. “This has pulled the sales despite a major part of the year going under lockdown. At present the offices are closed due to the weeklong curbs but clients are being helped in paying the premium and other formalities,” he said.
G V Iyer, a stock broker and financial adviser said they have been able to run the offices without any hassles during the current lockdown. “Work has not stopped in any of the businesses, be it mutual funds, insurance or equity brokerage. Even the mutual fund investments have gone up considerably during the year,” he said.
Prasanna Dani, a medical insurance agent, said works like putting up reimbursement claims or renewal of policies has been affected due to the closure. The job can be done online, yet lack of manpower in the insurance companies’ offices is also hampering the work. There are closures in some companies’ offices after Covid positive cases were found at the work place.
Chartered accountant (CA) Julfesh Shah said CAs have been able to operate smoothly even with limited staff. However, some of the clients are not able to bring them the required documents due to their own offices being shut.
There have been complaints that the lockdown will affect the monthly filing of GST returns but officials said it can always happen online. Even invoices these days are kept in the electronic format rather than having a physical copy. The help centre at the central GST department also remains to be open where businessmen can seek help in filing returns.
The income tax office at Saraf Chambers, Sadar, has been closed after a number of employees were found positive. Even as the Aaykar Bhavan office at Seminary Hills is open, chartered accountants say they are wary of visiting the office with their clients’ work.