In the wake of the pandemic, COVID-19, we are living in an environment, full of uncertainty and till now the solution to eradicate this crisis is elusive. The pandemic, undisputedly, emerged from China, has transcended, across the globe and the brunt of outcome, will definitely change the way each individual lives their lives.

Societies and individuals needs to redefine the definition of privilege in future and hence, this redefining will obviously, tantamount to change in consumer preferences and behaviour. Hence, there is an urgent need for businesses to realign their day to day activities, in line with Global standards and customer requirements.

We live in a country, where, customers are more rational and pragmatic as opposed to the consumers, 20 years back. India as a country, also emerged as a global power, with its strong presence on the world map.

Since the outbreak of COVID, there has been no differentiation between the rich and the poor. Rich and developed countries like US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, to name a few, have also not been spared by this pandemic at any cost. Citizens still continue to suffer and it is one of the worst crisis after World War II. Hence, there is a need to introspect, where mankind is heading towards and what will be the outcome. We need to learn a strong lesson from this crisis moving forward.

Much before the emergence of this crisis, the world economy was going through a phase of recession, like those witnessed, during 2008. Post outbreak of COVID, the situation is now worse and its high time, to accept the bitter fact and work towards the remedial actions with poise. Bold and concrete steps is a need of an hour. As far as India is concerned, we as a nation, have to also contribute and reinvigorate our businesses. India’s economy is doleful as of now and COVID 19, has been a trigger to worsen the situation further. Although, the spread of COVID in India, is less disastrous as compared to other developed country, due to prompt response of Government at inception itself, still, the brunt of this pandemic is yet to be felt post lockdown.

The first impact as mentioned earlier, will be the redefinition of privilege by customers. Same reason will also attribute to changes in customer preference, in terms of customer behaviour- buying and spending patterns, change in lifestyles and changes in the outlook towards life

On a macro level, nations will put more thrust on in-house manufacturing and increase dependency on available resources, rather than importing from other countries, to mitigate the risks of future crisis. On the other hand, exports will also come down drastically, there might be due to non-fulfilment of previous commitments etc.

On a micro level, small businesses, also needs to understand the impact and instead of rummaging for the solutions, need to apply a holistic approach in dealing with the post effects of pandemic. Few of the approaches to run a business post lockdown, can be therefore summarised as under:

• Maintenance of social distancing: No doubt the lockdown will be lifted by GOI, but what will still prevail is the possibility of re-occurrence or rather redetection of this disease till a cure is finally found. Hence, the utmost priority of the business is to ensure that, the first step towards prevention of spread of this disease is implemented for all. As it is rightly said- “Prevention is better than cure”, businesses needs to ensure that, their workplace is congenial for people to come and work, without violating social distancing norms. For business, working as retail stores, needs to ensure that, customers also maintains a distance, while visiting he shops. Also, customers being more cautious than pre-COVID stage, would mostly prefer establishments, which would adhere to social distancing norms.
• Use of sanitizations and masks: Sanitising oneself at regular intervals, will not only prevent spread of this disease, but will also inculcate a serious yet commendable habit by the people as a normal activity. People will understand the importance of sanitisation and will henceforth live a more improved and hygienic life. Likewise, it is essential to cover both nose and mouth by individuals, to prevent spread of this pandemic, post lock-down, chances if any. Hence, businesses should make provision of sanitizers at its business place, besides sanitising the premises on a routinely basis. Masks must be provided to workers and employees, for free of cost or at a nominal price, as a precautionary measure. Emphasis, should be given to in-house production of required masks, by the employer, if these masks yields high cost in the market.
• Use of technology: This pandemic, has not only proved to be a disastrous one, but has also given a food for thought and a means of introspection, to those enterprises, which were jittery to invest more on technological aspect, with one core objective- to save chunks of capital outflow and were reliant on their existing process. Now, it a right time to analyse the areas, which requires upgradation and analyse the alternatives, available in the market. It’s a well-known fact, that, owing to lockdown, most of the businesses, still had ‘work from home’ option, which did not hinder much of the workflow. Industries specific to Information Technology etc, were still operative. Hence, due to increased consumer awareness, more and more companies and businesses with now go digital, to cater to customer needs. As a small and medium business, the risk of being overtaken by organised sector still prevails. To improve better customer service, one should start looking for avenues, like online acceptance of orders, door to door delivery, etc. This will no doubt increase costs, but will somehow facilitate digitalisation on one hand and re-allocation of available manpower on the other hand.
• Retaining employees: At the outbreak of COVID 19 and due to lockdown in place, businesses, started incurring losses, due to low or nil revenue consequent to closed market place, mainly due to fixed cost cash outflow. Nil revenue, couldn’t cover these fixed cost, hence loss was subsequently incurred. Hence, to prevent, further losses, businesses started firing employees, which in turn is more likely to be unethical on one part. Employees are dependent upon the businesses, for their livelihood and firing them altogether, is no solution. Hence, as employers, the companies’ needs to be considerate towards the workforce employed by them and help them during this period of crisis as well. It is the time to retain the efficient workforce and keep the wheels rolling.
• Recovery planning for businesses: The damage of COVID is already done. Now, it’s the time to analyse the recovery roadmap of the businesses. The same depends upon the nature of business and the sector the business is into. For example- drugs and pharmaceutical industry will take short term period (0-6 months) for recovery, as compared to tourism and hospitality sector, which will have severe impact of COVID and might take more than a year to recover its business. Accordingly, electronics, MSMEs, banking and automotive sectors will take a hit and will have high impact due to which the recovery period might extend to 7-12 months. Hence, it is quite imperative to ensure that, businesses have a well-planned recover plan, during this recovery phase, like analysis of available capital etc, since for most of the businesses, daily cash flow is the lifeblood and these businesses have an average cash reserve of 25-27 days. At present, monitoring cash flow is must and hence, cheaper alternatives like suppliers, materials etc, needs to be analysed and worked upon.
• Collaboration: The sector, which is most likely to be hit and crushed in this outbreak is the Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), MSME etc. Hence, it is a best time to make use of collaboration of one SMB with another one, with a mutual trust and understanding besides having great expectations from Government, which might not materialise in future. Hence, it is imperative to build light and co-operative business models, by tapping into the needs of a location at a micro level, instead of competing with gigantic corporates. For ex- produce of farmers can be reached out to the consumers directly, though locally available logistics, instead of selling it directly to mandis, and also reduce the risk of crop and produce loss. Many other businesses can also join hands and help each other grow and survive during this critical time. People who deliberately take risks and strive at the time of adversities, are the real champions. Power of winning, lies in the minds of the people.
• Learning new processes: Learning is a never ending task. As entrepreneurs, employers and employees, needs to continually align the products and services, based on demand of the customers. Hence, innovations and renovations of existing products and processes are now imperative, in line with market realities. One of the best example to look at this crisis is, as a new business opportunity, considering the example of UBER, which was started at the time of 2008 recession and came into existence during 2009. Hence, one can tap in and look for new business ideas post lockdown as a recovery model and improvement to an existing one.
• Tapping additional sources of income: Companies needs to look for other sources of income from available resources and ensure better utilisation of the same. For example, a proprietor, might have an agricultural land and agricultural produce, and it might be difficult to fetch good prices in the existing and past scenarios. Proprietor can look upon this resource as an additional source of income, by providing faster delivery options to end users directly, which will lead to increased demand and higher returns, rather than routing it through brokers and commission agents. This additional asset of a proprietor can fetch him additional income, besides carrying out his core business.
• Risk Insurance: It’s high time that businesses needs to realise the importance of insurance and mitigation of risks. Most of the sectors – especially SMBs are uninsured and are left in lurch at the time of crisis. Most of the businesses can venture and analyse the risk covers available in the market and invest a small proportion of their income towards this premium.
• Business Continuity Plan (BCP): Even SMBs needs to have a proper BCP in place which will help in overcoming the crisis in future or even reduce the risk of loss. BCP, can be in terms of alternate working locations, remote access to employees from home, maintaining liquidity or having a good backup for business continuity. Employees, should continue to be productive and contribute to commitments made by the organisations.
• Nation First: As we are all aware by now, that most of the sectors of the industry, will have a severe impact, the recovery of which, will take more than a year. These industries basically includes and is not limited to travel and tourism, hospitality, aviation, etc. As a responsible citizen, one should help our own domestic business, in one or the other ways. For instance, when the situation normalises, one can prefer undertaking domestic tourism, rather than going for international visits. This will in great deal, help our sectors recover, since they are the worst hit sector amongst all.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) : One cannot ignore the importance of CSR, especially in the wake of this pandemic. Businesses should not look into CSR merely as a compulsory regulatory compliance, but as their contribution to nation building. As GOI has announced that, any investment in helping poor or contribution to PM Cares Fund will constitute to investment under CSR / eligible for deduction in Income Tax act u/s 80G. As a responsible citizen, we should also, play our part by contributing to the lower income groups, who has lost their jobs and are finding difficulties in meeting their daily needs. This is especially for those migrant labourers, who works on daily wages and are now unemployed.

B&K Contribution:

We at Bhagat and Kumar (B&K), also understand the relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility and undertake essential activities, as a part of our contribution through Bhagat and Kumar Foundation, towards nation building. We work with a sole motto of “Start when you can, rather than when you have”.

Bhagat and Kumar , has been very instrumental in contributing through one or the other ways, be it actively donating to Central Govt Armed Force Relief fund for welfare of the families of martyred Armed forces personnel or by paying their tribute to armed force personnel, by filing their ITR returns provided consultancy services at a very nominal fees.

At this time of crisis, the firm – B&K through its B&K Foundation, has generously donated to PM Cares Fund, in their individual capacity as well. The nation is fighting with an invisible enemy- COVID 19, which not only proved disastrous, but is also detrimental for the economy on a whole. Hence B&K realised its duty at the time of crisis and contributed to its best capacity to fight this pandemic through following ways:

• Contribution to PM Cares Funds: B&K has contributed to the PM Cares funds in individual capacity and also through their foundation.
• B&K has also took up the initiative to file the income tax returns free of cost, of doctors, medical and emergency personnel, during FY 19-20, along with providing free consultancy services, to pay respect to them, who are fighting with all their might and valour.
• B&K understands the need of retaining the employees, who are part of their B&K family and has retained them, besides paying their salaries on time.
• Providing meals and essentials to needy and marginal sections of the society: B&K has contributed by following a systematic approach by connecting to daily wages workers within 5 kms of their locality and provided daily meals and essentials on a regular basis. The foundation not only took initiative of this activity, but also appealed other residents of the locality to come up with whatever they could, for benefit of the society.
• Awareness regarding prevention of COVID 19- B&K Foundation, understood the responsibility of an educated citizen and helped in spreading awareness among the workers and general masses, the precautions required for breaking the chain of COVID 19.

In nutshell, it can be concluded that, each sector needs to come out with an ‘’out of box thinking’’, post this lockdown, to ensure business sustainability. This will of-course require Government support, in terms of regularisation of tax structure, providing stimulation packages, taking bold and concrete steps like benchmarking and analysis of other opportunities in the current scenarios, relaxation of FDI policy and making it a first priority for other countries to prioritise India as an investment opportunity. Implementation of fiscal financing, will be another boost to the economy. Drive out sectors like agriculture as a business opportunity, rather than being only as a means of livelihood, majorly for poor and marginal. Regularisation of E-way bill and technological advancement is a need of an hour, since home delivery is now a major emerging business and a way of life. Simplification of GST and our existing taxation system, will be gladly appreciated by one and all.