‘Extremely Difficult To Predict The Covid-19 Impact'

But India also has other bigger issues to address, says Skoda-VW India chief

- Murali Gopalan

Like everyone else, Gurpratap Boparai is keeping his fingers crossed about the ticking time-bomb called Covid-19.

“Let’s see what impact it has even while there is definitely some disruption in the supply chain for everyone,” says the Managing Director of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India. When the outbreak first happened in China, it resulted in a near 80 per cent fall in sales last month.

“That would be a disaster and hopefully we don't get to that in India,” says Boparai (since the time of the interview, the Centre has clamped a 21-day lockdown across the country). Over the last few months, Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc worldwide.

India has had its share of infections/casualties too and the only hope is that it stays within some range of control. “It would be extremely difficult to predict a scenario here; it depends how careful people are in taking precautions,” says Boparai. Despite all efforts now underway, India’s large population and the grim reality of supply versus demand in medicare facilities is something that cannot be wished away.

The Skoda-VW chief is pragmatic about the fact that in this scenario it is impossible to predict what could happen since “it is far too big” at this point in time. “We will just have to accept the situation and try to do the best we can. If there is a collapse of the auto market here like in China, there is little we can do,” he says.

For now, the only option is to wait and watch while everyone hopes that it will blow over eventually. Boparai reiterates that none of this will have a bearing on India 2.0, which is “towards the future… and the future has not changed”.