With status quo on lockdown restrictions, small and medium business owners stare at an uncertain future

With no relaxation in lockdown restrictions in Gautam Budh Nagar, owners of many small and medium businesses in the district are now uncertain about their future.

With no relaxation in lockdown restrictions in Gautam Budh Nagar, owners of many small and medium businesses in the district are now uncertain about their future.

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A three-week nationwide lockdown was imposed in the country on March 25 to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus diseases (Covid-19). The lockdown was subsequently extended till May 3, however, the Central government had suggested conditional relaxation in some lockdown norms from April 20. After a video conference with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday, which was attended by all district magistrates in the state, the Gautam Budh Nagar administration decided to continue with the lockdown as it is, in light of the rising cases in the district.

“Given the high number of hot spots in the district and the rising number of Covid-19 positive patients, the district has to be careful and precautionary measures need to stay in place. In light of this, businesses or commercial services, private or public, will not start. All citizens, officials, and workers will have to continue to follow the lockdown rules as before,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate in an order on Monday.

While daily wage workers suffer amid the lockdown with no source of income, the business class is also incurring sizeable losses and small and medium business owners being the worst hit.

“For now everything is at a standstill. We continue to pay our employees who have been with us for years, while we are not generating any income. The gravity of the situation will hit us when the store will eventually be opened,” said Anita Singh, owner of a stationery shop in Sector 18.

“ Many offices, that have been allowed to operate, keep contacting us for stationary, but we are unable to supply them with anything because of the lockdown,” said Singh adding that despite students being in need of basic stationery items and notebooks for their online classes, many shopkeepers like her are unable to provide them.

The retail sector in the district has taken a huge hit, and many business owners believe that their problems will not end even when the lockdown will be lifted.

“ We are only spending money and not generating any income. Even if the lockdown is lifted next month, the consumers will not rush to shops to buy items. There will be no gatherings any time soon. People will prefer to purchase goods online. We will need a lot of outside economic help to restore the balance. At least, for the rest of this year, buying shoes and garments will not be a priority for anyone,” said Sachin Paul, owner of a shoe shop.

There are about seven crore traders in the country out of which 15 million traders deal in essential commodities.“Due to the lockdown, between March 25 and April 14, the retail trade has suffered losses to the tune of ₹3.15 lakh crore,” said Sushil Kumar Jain, convener, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Delhi-NCR.

Amid the lockdown, most shopkeepers and business owners who deal with non-essential services and items have not been able to check in on their stocks for more than three weeks.

“Electronics, garments among other things require regular maintenance, but that is not an option during the lockdown. Even after the lockdown is lifted, the situation won’t go back to normal for months, and some businesses may never be able to recover at all. The most affected are the small and medium business owners,” said Jain who is also the president of Sector 18 market association.

For smaller businesses, the economic crisis has hit their means of survival. Neelam Devi, who ran a tea stall with her husband in B block, Sector 63, has been trying to make ends meet for her family for over a month now.

“There were so many offices around that the tea stall always had people coming over. We had a steady income and would make around ₹1,200 on a good day. But now we have no idea when will we be able to get back on our feet and set up our stall again. We have four children and we don’t know how will we continue to feed them. We are from Bihar, and we could neither return home nor do we have any means to earn now. It took us four days to get ration from the government,” said Neelam. “We have received a food packet from the government which has rice, wheat, pulses, mustard oil, and salt. It should last us for about 8 to 10 days.”

Suman Rai, an electrician who lives in Shahdara village, Sector 141 was hopeful of starting his work again after he had heard that the lockdown might be relaxed from April 20. “I stay with my nephew in Noida, and with no work, for almost a month all my savings have dried up. We got free ration once about two weeks ago, but it has also finished. With no money and no work, it’s becoming very difficult to survive. Although many of my clients are calling me for repairing jobs and other things, I cannot do anything because of the lockdown,” said Rai, who is from Samastipur in Bihar. Rai used to earn more than ₹25,000 per month and had employed a daily wager to help him out.