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City-based businesses lost an estimated ₹700 crore in sales because of Wednesday’s bandh called by Dalit groups to protest attacks on the community.
High streets, wholesale markets, shops and malls wore a deserted look with all transport in the city grinding to a halt, as protesters had attacked buses, stopped suburban trains and blocked several arterial roads.
“Trade in the city was back to normal on Thursday, but the previous two days were terrible,” said Viren Shah, President, Retail Trade Welfare Association.
“People who came to Mumbai for the long weekend, for New Year’s...they were unable to go out. Footfalls in shops were affected.
“The potential loss in terms of sale value was for all businesses in the city was at least ₹700 crore.”
Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader and BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar had called for the bandh to protest against the State government’s alleged failure to stop the violence at Bhima Koregaon village a few days ago.
Retail trade hit“The entire trading community came to a halt on Wednesday in the State,” said Mohan Gurnani, President, Federation of Associations of Maharashtra. “Many businesses stayed shut as a precautionary measure. About 70 per cent of retail trade in Mumbai city was affected because of the bandh and stone pelting and vandalism has caused damage to property.”
“It’s difficult to give an estimate of the loss,” Gurnani added. “But at least at the APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committees) in the State, the loss will run into crores. The week’s business has been disrupted and there is a fair amount of backlog in inventory. It will take at least a few more days for things to settle down.”
Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India, said: “Retailers earn about 1-1.5 per cent of the their annual profit margin with a day’s trade. Besides this, there are fixed costs — rent, electricity, labour. They might stand to lose this margin altogether, unless they are able to make up for this over subsequent business days.”
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