Gloom and doom across industry, as Uttarakhand body estimates Rs 5,000 crore losses due to lockdown

DEHRADUN: Industries in the state have suffered losses of over Rs 5,000 crore in the ongoing lockdown, as all three components — production, supply and retail — have come to a grinding halt for over a month now, said Pankaj Gupta, president of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU).
The IAU has over 1,500 members from a large array of sectors, like manufacturing, hospitality, retail and freight carriers, across the state.“The loss figure of Rs 5,000 crore is based on our assessment, gathered from members spread both in the hills and plains. There is no production barring those in essential commodities, raw material supply has crashed and there are no fresh orders,” said Gupta.
The lockdown has not hit private industry alone, but the state government exchequer as well. State finance secretary Amit Negi has estimated the total government revenue loss at Rs 1,500 crore — both tax and non-tax — during the lockdown. On being asked how these losses can be recovered, Negi said, “We will not be able to recover these losses, as it is consumption-based. Only future consumption can fill the revenue lost in the lockdown.” Industry owners and experts said manpower issues and liquidity crisis are likely to crop up in the next three months. “Flow of liquidity in the market has been disrupted due the corona crisis. The effect has started showing on industry. For example, many industrialists are not being able to recover outstanding payments from their clients, who are also affected by the crisis,” said industrialist Rajeev Verma. How to pay salaries over the next three months is another problem staring at industry owners in Uttarakhand. A BPO owner, Ritesh Arora, said, “Industry owners might be having contingency funds to pay rent, salaries and other operational costs for some time, but not for the next six months. Ultimately, the government will have to revive the economy.”
A city-based hotelier, Kanti Kumar, said, “Tourism sector will bear the brunt of the crisis. If there are no tourists, how will hoteliers survive in Uttarakhand? The next three months will be very difficult for the survival of this industry.”