Paucity of truck drivers is impacting supplies, said Arjun Ranga, Managing Director, Cycle Pure Agarbathis.

With a good number of migrant workers, who hitherto had been driving trucks and lorries to eke out a living returning to their hometowns after partial relaxation in lockdown rules and with the Government giving its nod to their return, he avers that the biggest challenge at present is not demand, but supply constraints.

“Just about one-third of the drivers are now available for movement of goods,” he said and noted that it could take another two – three months for things to return to normalcy.

“Transportation costs have shot up significantly. This could be a temporary phenomenon/ jerk, but is affecting the workflow.”

He further pointed out that it was the first time in the last 70 years the company had to face such an eventuality and shut operations for close to two months.

The brand, which has been in the prayer and worship space was not categorised as an essential commodity during lockdown and therefore went out of circulation.

After the partial relaxation in lockdown rules, the company has commenced its operations, but the challenges on the supply front has not been easy to tide with, Ranga told BusinessLine .

To a query on demand he said: “It has never an issue as there is some festival or other through the year and people keep buying pooja items. Even during lockdown, we received 10 – 15 calls every day; online enquiries have trebled.”

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