Praveen Khandewal, Secretary, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has appealed to Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs to advise banks not to charge any interest or penalty from traders as COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted a loss of about Rs 19 lakh crore to the Indian retail industry in the past five-months.
According to Khandelwal, the pandemic had resulted in such a great turmoil for domestic trade that even after ‘Unlock-4', traders across the country are depressed. The retail market is facing an acute financial crisis as payments for the supplies made in November-December is still pending and there is no hope of its early realization.
Domestic trade is passing through its worst period in the current century and immediate steps need to be taken to prevent retail shops from closing their shutters permanently.
