As the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic spreads to many States outside Maharashtra, industries appear better-prepared for any likely disruption of operations.

Daily Covid-19 cases in India have been on the rise since mid-February, though they were still concentrated in States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Though vaccination is being stepped up, the spread of Covid-19 in the past few days has been of concern, particularly in Maharashtra.

“This second wave is likely to result in a short-term growth bump to what is otherwise an uptrend,” says Nomura Securities.

Leading auto manufacturers are monitoring the situation and hope it doesn’t lead to a major lockdown like last year. “While sales have been improving, we have been trying our best to meet the demand despite the shortage of semi-conductors,” said a top executive at at passenger vehicle OEM.

“But companies are overhauling their supply and sales chains to become more resilient to the second wave,” say analysts of Nomura Securities.

Big players in the Chennai manufacturing corridors are monitoring the situation, while further strengthening the measures to combat virus spread.

“Hyundai has the safety and well-being of its employees and customers as topmost priority and is continuing to strictly follow all sanitation & safety measures and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as laid down by the Government and other authorities. We are actively monitoring the current situation” says Stephen Sudhakar, Senior VP – People Strategy & Business Support.

While enforcing strict adherence to SOPs, companies have also been encouraging their eligible staff to get vaccinated.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) says it continues precautionary measures. From this month, its Medical Centre has been holding ‘vaccine awareness’ sessions for employees, dealers and suppliers.

The Renault-Nissan factory has tied with the nearest public health centres to help its staff get vaccinated.

“We are still continuing with all the precautions initiated last year without any relaxations so far at the Oragadam factory. Fresh and intensive awareness campaign has been launched through multiple channels like tool box talks, mail communications, video, walk through campaigns etc,” says Satish Sharma, President, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA), Apollo Tyres Ltd.

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