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Rs 5.50 lakh cr losses in retail sector during the lockdown: CAIT

Traders’ body, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said in a statement that COVID-19 has caused a huge dent in retail trade which will have a devastating effect on the whole country. The association also said that the losses  suffered by the retail sector, comprising around 7 crore traders, during the lockdown amount to Rs 5.50 lakh crore.

CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal was quoted as saying, “Indian retailers do a daily business of around Rs 15,000 crore and since the country is in a lockdown there has been a huge loss of over Rs 5.50 lakh crore of business, which is done by 7 crore traders of the country. This will force around 1.5 crore traders to permanently down their shutters and a further 75 lakh traders, who are dependent on these 1.5 crore traders, will fold up in the medium term.”

He added that at least 20% of Indian retailers – 2.5 crore traders in India are micro and small in nature – are likely to wind up their businesses in the next few months. While there is a a sharp dip in disposable income of consumers & these businesses are not being able to return to normalcy, they have fixed costs like paying salaries, rentals, other monthly expenses.