Thanks to the non-stop work done at many levels in the Government with inputs from some of the top brains, a balance is being struck, effective 4th May 2020, between the lockdown and economic revival. There is practically very little restriction in green zones, lifting of majority of curbs in the orange zone and continuing with lockdown 3.0 in the red zones with relief for industrial operations.

The State Government is taking up the matter of removing Bangalore urban from the red zone by isolating the wards which are hot spots, thereby permitting activities in the rest of the city.  It is realized that the very low or no manufacturing and trading activity will lead to a very poor GDP growth, not to mention the sufferings of the industries. MSMEs, the backbone of Indian economy is the worst hit.  The government is going to announce its second tranche of relief measures for the MSMEs. The impact of the 6 weeks closure cannot just be wished away.  The labour force has to be brought back, raw materials have to be made and delivered; supply chain activities have to be fully revived; the unfinished work at every industrial unit has to be completed; despatches and shipments made. The buyers have to co-operate by understanding the ground realities.

All this will take time. It is estimated that the economic slump could last a year! How does the industry survive such a long period of poor returns when salaries, taxes, fuel bills, etc. continue to remain status quo?

The estimated job loss in India on account of Covid 19 is likely to be 60 million against a total work force of 600 million. Globally there could be 195 million job losses against 2.7 billion total number of workers.

While this might make distressing reading, the world population is known for its ability to rise from the ashes and perform better than before when faced with calamities such as this and other outbreaks, not to mention wars. And India is no exception to this.

It is the belief of a large majority that the year 2021 will make the beginning of not only a complete restoration of activities but a booming economy and for this it is being compared to the year 1991, the year of economic revival and opening up of the Indian economy.

We are ready to make up for the missed opportunities and time and will work with renewed energy to meet and exceed the goals we set for ourselves.