Hit hard by the second wave of the pandemic, about 59% of start-ups and MSMEs are likely to either scale down operations, sell off, or completely shut in the next six months, according to a survey by LocalCircles.
The survey saw participation from more than 6,000 start-ups and MSMEs located in 171 districts of India. When asked where they saw their business future in the next six months given the impact of the second wave of COVID-19, 37% said they would scale down their operation, while 14% said they might shut down, and 8% said they would sell off their business. “Only 22% of start-ups and MSMEs see growth in their business during this period,” the survey said.
On a question related to the months of cash they had on hand, 33% of small businesses said they had only less than a month of cash remaining, whereas 8% were already out of funds. About 37% said they had funds for 1-3 months, 22% have more than 3 months of runway and 11% said they had it for more than 6 months.