Degrowth Rates Peak, Lockdown Relaxations Ineffective for Retail: Survey

The relaxations provided by Government in May 2020 were ineffective as retailers across the board continued to lose. Large size retailers (>300cr sales) in the food and grocery segment have witnessed 86 percent degrowth in business, while the non-food and grocery segment has seen a 75 percent degrowth compared to last year…

No industry or individual has escaped unscathed from the lockdown, and retail lies at the very intersection. A recent survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) of more than 150 retailers – big and small, revealed that lockdown relaxations have done little to relieve the pain of the sector. A business assessment for the past 3 months (March, April and May 2020) shows severe degrowth in businesses across sectors and regions. During the stringent lockdown in April 2020 and May 2020 retailers lost around 80 – 90 percent of their last year sales.

KEY FINDINGS

The food and grocery segment witnessed 39 percent degrowth during the lockdown

The beauty, wellness and personal care segment faced a maximum 75 percent degrowth

Recording 81 percent degrowth rates, the western and southern regions were most impacted

Note: Figures represent a Y-O-Y comparison

Table 1: COVID-19 Lockdown severely impacted growth across geographies with acute impact in April and May