Retail trade suffered loss of 9 lakh crore since lockdown started: CAIT

The country's retail trade lost business worth Rs 9 lakh crore in the last 60 days, mainly due to the nationwide lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic, trader's body CAIT said.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said domestic trade is facing its worst period as shops and commercial markets across the country since last Monday could register only about 5 percent of the business, and only 8 percent of the workforce could resume their duties in shops after migration of about 80 per cent employees to their native places.

Shedding light on the reason behind the low footfalls at markets, It stated that people are not much inclined to come out for shopping because of fear of COVID-19.

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said during the span of 60 days of national lockdown, the domestic trade has lost business to the tune of about Rs 9 lakh crore, causing a revenue loss of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore to both the central and state governments on account of GST. The traders are facing an acute financial crunch, and in the absence of any policy support from the government, they are worried about the future of their business, he said.