Weekend curfews, partial lockdowns hurting business: Retailers’ body

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Weekend curfews and partial lockdowns continue to hurt retail business and dampen consumer sentiment as many states still impose “irrational weekend lockdowns”, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said on Tuesday. For retailers, over 45 per cent of the week’s entire business happens over the weekends, Saturday and Sunday, RAI said in a statement.

It added that after facing losses for over four months due to lockdown, retailers are depending on the weekend business to help recover from the financial stress they have been facing.  “However, local authorities in some states continue to impose strict lockdowns on weekends, which are becoming a huge setback in their path to recovery,” it added.

RAI said the Indian retail industry continues to struggle to get back to its feet with constant roadblocks being faced at the state and local levels with weekend curfews and partial lockdowns, which continue to hurt retail business and dampen consumer sentiment.  “Over 10 states continue to impose irrational weekend lockdowns. These include Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Nagaland, among others,” the retailers’ body said.