Bhubaneswar: The COVID-induced lockdowns have taken a heavy toll on the retail business in the state. Retail traders have suffered losses to the tune of Rs 3000 crore, according to Odisha Traders’ Association.
Moreover, the business worth over Rs 30,000 crore has been caught in stalemate.
During the ongoing pandemic, monthly retail business turnover remains confined to Rs 6,500 crore in the state, as per the data provided by the traders’ body. There are 20 lakh retail traders in the state including 16 lakh small traders.
Similarly, the number of traders with medium turnover is 3.5 lakh in the state. There are also 50,000 wholesalers.
The retail market value of the state is dependent on these traders. Sadly, these traders have been suffering huge losses owing to COVID-induced lockdowns.
To prevent the spread of COVID, the government had announced lockdowns repeatedly for three months since March. The economy was badly battered. To bring back the sagging economy to track, the government started unlocking process in phases to give some breathing space to traders and revive their businesses.
When the unlock process was brought into play, traders had expected that things will limp back to normal, but COVID situation continued to worsen, forcing the government to effect the lockdown again.
Four districts and Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela came under lockdown for 14 days. Consequently, the business of the retail traders took a heavy beating again.
In normal times, the retail market value of the state is usually pegged at `1.50 lakh crore per annum. The monthly turnover is estimated at Rs 12,500 crore, while the daily turnover is estimated at Rs 415 crore.
During the pandemic, 50 per cent of the retail trade has been running on loss. Traders have to face `20-crore loss every day, said Sudhakar Panda, the secretary of the traders’ body. He added that in the last four months, sales worth `30,000 crore are down. Traders dealing with non-essential items have been more affected.
On the other hand, the Central government has not provided any assistance to the traders. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that ‘PM Swanidhi’ Yojana would benefit over 50 lakh traders in the country.
Under this scheme, street vendors and small traders were allowed to get loans up to `10,000 and to repay the amount within a year.
But, no traders have received this assistance. Such situation is a pointer the reality of the financial package for the traders.
