COVID 19: A Big Threat for Humanity
The entire world is facing the huge crisis emerged due to Coronavirus which has been declared pandemic by WHO. This deadly virus which started four months ago from China has paralyzed the entire world with more than 5 Lakhs people infected globally and about 20000 people have lost their life across all countries. The worst effected countries are China, Italy, US, Iran, Spain, Germany, UK and few other countries. A huge economic crisis has emerged globally due to this ongoing threat which has not spared a single Nation. In India too, the virus started spreading in month of March very quickly which infected more than 600 people and killed more than 15 people. The businesses have started suffering a lot in all verticals as entire world has announced complete lockdown to fight this deadly virus. Let’s check out the entire development report prepared by DT so far related with this pandemic.
Complete Lockdown: PM Taking Tough Call
“All of you are also witnessing how the most advanced countries of the world have been rendered absolutely helpless by this pandemic. It is not that these countries are not putting in adequate efforts or they lack resources. The Coronavirus is spreading at such a rapid pace that despite all the preparations and efforts, these countries are finding it hard to manage the crisis. The analysis of happenings in all these countries since the last two months, and the opinion of experts has proved that there is only one way to effectively deal with Coronavirus - Social Distancing” said Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi called for a complete lockdown of the entire nation for the 21 days staring from 25th March in an effort to contain the COVID-19 Pandemic. In an address to the Nation the Prime Minister said that even those nations with the best of the medical facilities could not contain the virus and that the social distancing is the only option to mitigate it.
PM urged all of us to support social distancing majors to stop the spread of this deadly virus. He said, “All of you are also witnessing how the most advanced countries of the world have been rendered absolutely helpless by this pandemic. It is not that these countries are not putting in adequate efforts or they lack resources. The Coronavirus is spreading at such a rapid pace that despite all the preparations and efforts, these countries are finding it hard to manage the crisis. The analysis of happenings in all these countries since the last two months, and the opinion of experts has proved that there is only one way to effectively deal with Coronavirus - Social Distancing”.
The Prime Minister announced the entire country shall go under complete lockdown, which means total ban has been imposed on people, from stepping out of their homes for a period of 21 days.
To deal with the economic challenges caused by the pandemic, Prime Minister announced the creation of ‘COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force’ under the Union Finance Minister. The Task Force will consult stakeholders, take feedback, on the basis of which decisions will be taken to meet the challenges. The Task Force will also ensure implementation of the decisions taken to meet these challenges.
Prime Minister also urged the business community and higher income groups to look after the economic needs of those from lower income groups, from whom they take various services, urging them not to cut their salary on the days they are unable to render the services due to inability to come to the workplace. He stressed on the importance of humanity during such times. He also assured the countrymen that there would not be any shortage of essential items like food, milk, medicines etc. He urged people to not resort to panic buying.
Prime Minister exhorted everyone to work together and contribute fully to overcome the crisis of COVID-19. He urged the citizens not to fall prey to misinformation. Prime Minister said that during the time of such a global pandemic, it is important to ensure that ‘humanity wins and India wins’.
The Prime Minister concluded though 21 days of lockdown is a long time, but it is equally essential for your safety and that of your family. He expressed confidence that every Indian will not only successfully fight this difficult situation but also emerge victorious.
Market Conditions
According to a UN report, the trade impact in India due to current crisis may be about 348 million dollars. India has been placed among the top 15 economies which will be most affected due to shutdown of manufacturing in China since last few months.
General Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary, said that in addition to grave threats to human life, the coronavirus outbreak carries serious risks for the global economy. Any slowdown in manufacturing in one part of the world will have a ripple effect in economic activity across the globe because of regional and global value chains.
As per the report published by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), The pandemic has also been affecting the economic and financial conditions worldwide, India being no exception. There are several evidences that substantiate the fact that COVID -19 has been impacting the Indian industry and economy adversely, with significant implications on the sustainability of businesses and employment. The negative sentiment of the economy is perhaps best captured by the plunge of the stock prices at BSE and NSE in the last few days and also of the Indian rupee against USD. Some major sectors such as electronics, automobiles, entertainment, transport, tourism, and exports are in deep trouble due to the disruption in the global supply chain and routine operations. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth could fall below 5% in fiscal year 2021 (FY21), if policy action is not taken urgently.
Industry Reaction
According to Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India, “The Coronavirus outbreak is creating a potential impact on the Indian ICT market and several sectors are already facing the brunt. The Indian manufacturing industry is largely imported from China. In fact, at Acer, our majority of raw material also comes in from China. However, due to COVID-19, factories are shut down and the supply channel has become restricted and this has created a huge impact on the market. Rising demand and lack of supply have hit the electronics industry certainly but then we are assuming things will be back in shape soon. Acer understands the need of our consumers & we are also focused on the market needs.”
“The Coronavirus outbreak has impacted business across the world as China is a manufacturing hub for many companies across the globe. The global impact of the Coronavirus outbreak will be felt in India as well. I think everybody will have to re-evaluate their commitment to their customers, partners and the complete ecosystem. This should be a huge learning for all the business and how they can built redundancy across the Industry,” commented by Devendra Kamtekar, CEO, Digisol Systems.
While commenting on the current situation, Rajshekhar Bhatt, Country Manager India, ECS, says, “ The situation currently has become very challenging for all of us as we are going through very tough phase. We do hope globally we are able to contain the deadly coronavirus so that impact gets downgraded. Not just ICT but all other market is suffering from the current challenge in India, but priority remains to support government initiatives to stop the community spreading.”
John Dong, Director, Tenda India comments, “The virus has a huge impact on global impact. Every country has suffered economically due to the fact that we live in a shared world closely integrated with each other. High speed Internet and transportation connectivity have helped our global economy to thrive. Just like other countries, Coronavirus has started showing its effects with the number of cases increasing day by day. In India, business travels, both domestic and international, have been reduced or wholly banned. Widespread Coronavirus scare has prompted many companies to issue work-from-home advisories to employees. This has adversely affected the working of Indian enterprises and can cause some more concerns in the coming days.”
Commenting upon the recent outbreak of Coronavirus and its impact on Indian businesses especially the consumer electronic segment, Mandeep Arora, Managing Director, 'UBON'-a leading consumer electronic brand said "The impact of the deadly Coronavirus outbreak in China is likely to be contingent on business activities. However, we are fully equipped in India. And hoping for the reversal of the situation, companies at present are monitoring the evolving situation and trying to stabilize the supplies for now. We are fortunate that we have production facilities in India and will not let it cause more disruptions. Also, we have ample flexibility at our backend with a reasonable surplus in order to keep our operations flowing. In addition, keeping the needs and requirements of our customers in mind, we are steadily ensuring that the Indian customers don't have to suffer the consequences of this malice.”
Aloke Paskar, President and CEO, JK Technosoft Ltd says, "The outbreak of Coronavirus has impacted every sector in the world and the crowdsourced data and analytics industry is no different. Companies providing analytics services play, an important role in the Travel, Healthcare, Hospitality, and Logistics Sector, and these sectors have been the ones facing the biggest brunt of the virus. The importance of crowdsourced social data and action-oriented insights is the call of the day. Companies that can help their community, government and the world will experience the maximum value for their services some of which we will not be able to put a price ever”
According to Kuldeep Chaudhary, CEO & Co-Founder, ADOHM, "Coronavirus has impacted the supply chains which has to lead to a huge hit on the economy. In an estimate, the loss has been recorded to 3 trillion dollars worldwide. But at the same time, it has also resulted in a demand for new-age technologies, especially in data visualization. Realtime visualization of data has become the need of the hour. Businesses are trying to find measures using Analytics as a tool so that their operations aren't impacted while at the same time sourcing new leads to grow their businesses. With improved marketing efforts and increase sales using the right quality lead; the intervention of analytics can help in boosting business. We are extensively working on providing our customers with solutions especially during this 'Work From Home' scenario where we provide them with detailed research basis analyzing and processing data of their targeted customers by analyzing their behavior patterns and suggesting them the right platform to carry their lead communications. Hence, ensuring proper utilization of funds and resources with regards to Return on Ad Spent. We have also collaborated with various brands to come up with analytical solutions to help people getting information about Coronavirus."
Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO at Flock and Co-founder and CEO at ZETA said, “The health and well-being of our employees and their loved ones remains of utmost importance to us as we work on combating Covid-19 together. We are constantly working with the leadership team to mitigate all possible risks and ensuring that we are proactive enough in responding to any kind of situation. In light of the current reports of coronavirus impact and related advisories by health officials, Zeta and Flock have announced a slew of measures to ensure the well-being of our employees.
“At Sify we have taken certain precautionary measures to safeguard the employees like daily mailers on hygiene, use of santizers, awareness through WHO videos, reporting colleagues who might be coughing or sneezing inordinately, no physical contact with each other, etc”, says, Praveen Krishna, Head – Public Relations, Sify Technologies.
“In view of the evolving Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation across the world, Aspire Systems will stay vigilant and take adequate measures to safeguard the health of its employees. The Company is ensuring that its employees receive accurate and timely information on health and travel safety. Employees have been advised to be aware of the changes in air travel regulations internationally and plan business-critical travel accordingly. Domestic travel guidance remains unchanged and we are closely following government guidelines. Comprehensive preventive measures have been implemented at the Indian facilities including fumigation and placement of hand sanitizers at strategic locations. Employees have been asked to report illness and take medical guidance immediately.” - Dinesh Kumaran, Vice President, Human Resources, Aspire Systems.
“Is it time to panic about the spread of Coronavirus? Probably not. But businesses will do well to think ahead and see how to ensure that their employees safe while preventing while keeping their businesses functional. Countries in China and South East Asia have been forced to experiment with work from home models. While this model may be difficult to implement for all job functions, there is no reason that customer support, sales, customer communications and call centers of any kind cannot continue to function as usual. We promptly assisted Acko General Insurance to move their agents to a work from home mode to help with Business continuity plan. We can smoothly transfer forward calls from call center to agents softphones or mobile handsets. The customers will not be able to make out that the agent is answering or making the call from home, and customer experience will remain top-notch.Will more businesses adapt to this model? Only time will tell. We are getting inquiries and are also proactively reaching out to our clients. We don't know at this moment, how many will finally switch to remote working. But yes, if they do decide to, it is possible for us to ensure that any kind of call center be it sales or support, inbound or outbound call centers can work remotely," says CSN Murthy, Chief Executive Officer, Ozonetel Communications.
Harshvendra Soin, Chief People Officer, Tech Mahindra, said, “At Tech Mahindra, we strongly believe in “Wellness before Business”, which is why amidst the current Coronavirus outbreak, our focus is on ensuring the well-being of all our employees and partner ecosystem. We are working towards ensuring our employees are not just aware but also educated on preventive measures that can be taken. We have issued a detailed employee advisory and are undertaking various preventive measures. We have mobilized a panel of doctors on standby across all locations who are educating employees, sharing information, do’s and don’ts etc. Restrictions have been imposed on domestic and international travel with immediate effect. We have postponed all internal events which required large gatherings and everyone has been advised to adequately leverage technologies like – Tele Presence and Video Conferencing. In case of COVID-19 symptoms, employees are being asked to avail work from home as well. All our office locations and guest houses are also being stocked with adequate supplies of sanitizers, emergency medicines, food ration etc.”
RK Bansal, MD Uniline Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. says, “Today we are facing one of the huge challenges to save human lives across the India. This deadly virus has killed more than 18k people across the world and it has infected more than four lakhs people. Our government is trying best to save innocent lives across India by announcing complete lockdown. We all should support government initiatives in this tough time. On business front, we are hopeful that once the situation improves, we will be able to work on different strategies to scale up our operations.
According to Manoj Kumar Pansari, Chairman and Managing Director of Astrum. “The outbreak has majorly affected India’s manufacturing and exports sectors. The tech industry in India, with direct exposure to China was the earliest to feel the effects due to the Covid-19. Days later, the hardware products were being hammered by closures and slowdowns in China which majorly affected the profit and turnover of many companies, the impact is starting to ripple outward to other, less obvious internet companies. India’s growth slowed to a near 7-year low of 4.7% in October-December 2019 on continued slump in manufacturing, and now faces the next big challenge of Coronavirus outbreak stifling global growth.”
Kingston shared statement on the current situation, which says, “As this has been posted in the news recently, the Coronavirus (initiated from Wuhan, China) has spread widely throughout the China region during the Chinese New Year holiday. Kingston Technology acknowledges that this situation is very serious and has taken the appropriate actions to protect all our employees to the fullest. Kingston followed the China government’s decision to extend the Chinese New Year holiday (in our China facilities) through February 10 and delayed all shipments to and from the region. Moving forward, Kingston continues to closely monitor the situation facility by facility with our Asia-Pacific (APAC) employees returning to work on a controlled schedule as conditions permit. Additionally, Kingston continues to suspend travel between our corporate headquarters in the United States and our facilities and countries in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. This current suspension also extends to travel within APAC for our employees who are based there. These decisions are made out of an abundance of caution in keeping with the best interests of our Kingston family.”
Seagate continues to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and follow the most up to date guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and International SOS (ISOS). The health and safety of our employees, customers and suppliers remains their top priority.
Additionally, as the outbreak extends to countries worldwide, Seagate is following local government guidelines in the regions in which we operate. Throughout this situation, Seagate has put in place strong proactive measures to both protect the well-being of our colleagues and contain the spread of the virus. We are also continuing to monitor the impact to customers and suppliers. Our manufacturing facilities as well as those of our contract manufacturers are operating in China. We have worked diligently with our suppliers and transportation networks to mitigate potential risks necessary to meet our customer commitments for the March quarter. However, the level of uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic remains high. As the situation evolves, Seagate will continue to take appropriate action to protect our employees, customers, and partners and mitigate impact risk to our business.
Today Country is facing one of the worst challenges where saving people lives are on top priority currently. The government is trying their best to contain the spread of viruses in next few weeks and this is the only thing which can save all of us. On the business side, we all have to be very watchful in preparing the best strategy to survive amid current situations.
