The state of businesses in 2020

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 has put an unanticipated halt to almost all the economic activities across the globe. The Indian economy has also been bearing the brunt of this economic halt which came in the guise of lockdown imposed in the country for three to four months. In June 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that India’s growth rate would decline by 4.5 per cent due to slow recovery from the novel Corona virus and a longer period of lockdown. However, India’s economic growth is expected to bounce back to six per cent in the year 2021.

The novel Corona virus forced the economies of the world to impose extended lockdown which has had severe impact on the business scenario and hence, the livelihood of people. However, several countries have started to recover and have gradually restarted their economic activity. India is no exception to this activity. After approximately three to four months of extended lockdown, the Indian economy is gradually coming back on its foot. The government offices and several private business houses have reopened their office premises with strict adherence to safety measures of the employees.

The lockdown period in India witnessed tremendous growth especially in some sectors such as OTT platforms, e-commerce, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and others.

It is to be noted that the medicine and healthcare sector has been at the forefront of the fight against Corona Virus. For instance, the manufacture of masks, hand gloves and sanitizers witnessed tremendous growth in the country. Even the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ventilators are getting manufactured in India in large numbers.

 The lockdown imposed by the Indian government proved to be a boon in disguise for the FMCG sector. The various companies operating in this sector such as Nestle, HUL, ITC, P&G, Godrej Consumer, Dabur, Amul and others expected a sudden rise in the demand of their products. In simple words, the general public decided to stock the essential commodities at home. However, it is to be noted that these companies faced supply chain challenges during the lockdown period for arranging the delivery of essential items during the lockdown period.

With the passage of time, the government permitted the online delivery service to function during the lockdown period. As a result, some of the companies such as BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon and Flipkart witnessed a sudden surge in the online delivery of essential items.

Another sector which witnessed unprecedented growth has been the consumption of online content. Since the general public was locked inside their houses, the companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Hotstar saw a rise in the consumption of their online content.

Likewise, the online education industry witnessed an unprecedented expansion during the lockdown period in the country. Since schools and colleges were shut down, the online medium of education witnessed a surge. The government even devised rules and guidelines for schools to impart online education to children.

Unfortunately, the start-ups were adversely affected by the lockdown which seriously impaired the business activity in the country. Several start-ups had to be closed down without notice leading to unemployment of employees. In addition, several companies who witnessed decline in their business activity (such as the hotel industry, aviation industry and others) were forced to disburse deducted salary to their employees during the lockdown period. Even the small businesses have suffered heavy losses due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Therefore, to conclude, the state of businesses has been badly affected in 2020 due to outbreak of the novel Corona virus. With no medical solution at hand, one will have to live with this virus for some time now. After the unlock initiated by the Indian government, businesses have attempted to return to normal business operation but with precaution and safety. Undoubtedly, the business sector will bounce back with vigour and will exhibit growth in 2021.