(Newswire.net — April 21, 2020) — India, like the rest of the world, had to place itself on hold temporarily, while the coronavirus was wreaking havoc. The scope of the country’s market being so large, it created important losses for all businesses, including the e-commerce industry who had to stop deliveries of non-essential products for a month. By the time they go back to normal on Monday (April 20), they’ll have lost billions of dollars in sales.
India: an Essential Market for Multinational Companies
India and its 1.3 billion people is a market that cannot be avoided today for any international companies. In fact, it should become the largest one soon, if it has not already done so. In 2018, the population of China and India were almost identical with a stronger growing curve for the latter. That is why so many multinational open offices inside the country to develop business in India.
e-commerce is also flourishing in the country with companies such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal leading the way. Due to the sanitary crisis, the Indian government asked them to limit their deliveries to essential items only. This request will end on Monday and all online shopping firms will be able to resume their full activity, after having suffered revenue losses amounting to billions of dollars.
After Handling the COVID-19 Crisis, Governments Move their Focus to the Economy
The coronavirus pandemic forced all governments around the world to reposition their focus from economy to health. This will have important repercussions, in the months and even years to come as they will have to find ways to protect their citizens while keeping the economy afloat. Even though companies will return to normal, in terms of what they can sell and deliver, they have informed the press that they will make sure they do so in a way that does not endanger their employees’ health or their customers.
The Indian government indicated this week that their focus is still on supporting immediate basic needs of consumers (food and pharmaceutical products) but that it is also participating in the resumption of economic activity by collaborating with all economical partners (brands, manufacturers, distributors, businesses and local shops). They have confirmed that this will be done gradually but also as rapidly as possible.
A Slow Start
Although all online distributors will return to normal, customers should expect their orders to be delivered with longer delays still. With the fear of getting infected by the virus still strong, they will have a difficult time finding enough employees and or delivery companies to send out all orders. They expect things to be more fluid within a few weeks to a month.