RAI voices strong concern over new curbs in Maharashtra
By Retail4Growth Team | April 06, 2021
Terming it ‘retail lockdown’ the retail body said that shutting of retail businesses other than essentials will impair the ability of businesses to survive.
The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has expressed serious concern over the measures announced by the Maharashtra government to combat the rising number of Covid cases, calling it 'retail lockdown’
Stressing on the need for a “balance between lives and livelihood", RAI has said that the #BreakTheChain order by the state government once "again brings a majority of retail businesses to a complete halt. Retail businesses of non-essential goods are feeling discriminated against for being pressed by restrictions and lockdowns without any respite from the government,” the body has been reported as saying.
The Maharashtra government has announced a weekend lockdown and night curfews during the weekdays from April 5 to April 30, in addition to other restrictions like closure of private offices, theatres and salons to curb the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the state. RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan has been reported as saying that the retail industry will start experiencing severe liquidity challenges once again due to the restrictions.
Further remarking on the financial burden of the restrictions, RAI said, “Nearly 60 per cent to 70 per cent of costs are fixed costs. This, along with low margins, leaves businesses with limited flexibility”. As he pointed out, retailers pay electricity bills, property taxes, among others in spite of being shut. “The new order will have a contagion effect on the entire retail ecosystem in the state and across the country majorly impacting manufacturing and employment of millions,” he added.
The body has also voiced its grouse over what it termed “a sense of discrimination” prevailing as online retail for non-essentials goods are being permitted to operate, while physical retail is not. Further, the industry body has pointed out that there has been no recognition of retail employees as frontline workers or prioritising their vaccination and added that nearly 90 per cent of the frontline retail workforce is less than the age of 45 years.
