IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON INDIAN INDUSTRIES AND SURVIVAL STRATEGIES: A CASE OF FEW INDUSTRIES

Abstract

Coronavirus erupted in China in late 2019, and by early 2020, it had spread in the world when the World Health Organization also declared the outbreak as a Global Pandemic. Many countries in the world went under complete lockdown, which brought their economies to a standstill. Even today when more than a year has passed since the pandemic arose, the economies continue to be deeply affected by the disruption. The virus has caused unprecedented implications on global economies and have affected almost all sectors, though the affect is disproportional. Through this study, I have tried to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on six major sectors of Indian Economy and then recommended recovery steps that can help these industries. The selection of industries has been such so as to cover all three sectors of Indian Economy, i.e., Primary, Secondary & Tertiary. These industries also cover the various levels of exposure to the disruption caused by the pandemic, i.e., high, medium and low. Besides, they are also major contributors to India’s GDP and Employment. The industries under the scope of our study are- Tourism & Hospitality, Aviation, Automobile, Oil 7 Gas, Media & Entertainment and Pharmaceuticals. Tourism and hospitality is one of the bigger sectors in India- both in terms of job employment and the revenue. Unlike other sectors, like IT for example, it isn’t one of those which has jobless growth. Tourism industry in India has generated 42.7 mn jobs in 2018 – roughly 8% of total employment in the country as per the India Tourism Statistics 2019, Ministry of Tourism. Loss of Job, Revenue and Foreign Exchange remain the main concerns of this industry in the pandemic. The Aviation sector is one of the fastest growing sectors (20% YoY) in India delivering approximately 6.2 million jobs. The industry constitutes $72 billion (₹5.48 Lakh Crore) (2.25%) to India’s GDP. According to estimates, over 2.9 million people in Indian Aviation sector(and dependent industries) are expected to lose their jobs in the near future. The impact of Covid-19 is not going to disappear even after the lockdown ends, and hence, the economy will take relatively more time to recover. Majorly because of the fear of getting infected will enforce the passengers to avoid flying except in emergency or inevitable situations. The automobile industry mainly covers a wide range of companies involved in the design, development, manufacture, marketing and selling. The automobile industry contributes 7.1% to the GDP of Indian economy. India is expected to become world number three in terms of volumne by FY2026. The industry was already struggling in 2019, when the pandemic made its growth even mode difficult.The Indian oil and gas (O&G) industry ranks fourth in the world in terms of refining capacity and among the top three large markets in terms of demand growth. It accounts for 5.2 percent of the world's oil demand. India, on the other hand, imports 84 percent of its oil and 53 percent of its gas needs each year. In FY 2019, O&G imports accounted for around a quarter of India's total import bill. As a result, the impact of COVID-19, whether as a result of widespread demand destruction or a downward spiral in crude prices, is of great worry to all Indian oil and gas industry participants. India's M&E business has so far succeeded in exceeding expectations by capturing the imagination of a billion Indians while also attracting audiences around the world and leaving a global footprint. The industry has entered a period of innovation and transformation, fueled by ongoing investments in digitisation. During the shutdown, several M&E areas, such as TV, gaming, digital, and OTT, are seeing increased consumption. On the other hand, with social distancing rules in place, outdoor consumption modes — films, events, theme parks, and so on – are seeing a severe declineBut the pandemic has made it difficult for the industry to retain its profits as major porjects have been postponed and the box offices are closed. With the second wave hitting the country, the industry is further forced to remain in the standstill/ India has the world's second-largest workforce in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. In 2019, the domestic pharmaceutical market in India generated US$ 20.03 billion (Rs 1.4 lakh crore), up 9.8% from US$ 18.12 billion (Rs 1.29 lakh crore) in 2018.While Covid-19 has provided enormous opportunities for the sector to grow, but it has also resulted in rising cost and low imports from China for the raw materials which were crucial in manufacturing medicines for patients of Tuberculosis, Diabetics, etc. All these industries thus are affected by the pandemic significantly and calls for immediate government intervention and reformatory steps on behalf of the businesses to recover, return to the pre-pandemic situation and grow thereafter.