Parul
Underlining the crushing impact of the pandemic’s second wave earlier this year on small businesses throughout India, over 70 per cent of MSMEs interviewed for a new survey confirmed that their business suffered a debilitating impact in the aftermath of the second wave. The online survey of 150 MSMEs spread across India was conducted by MSMEx, education and growth consulting services platform, to study the impact of covid-19 on the sector.
While 50 per cent of the respondents affirmed that they are yet to fully recover from the ramifications of both waves of the pandemic, nearly 43 per cent of MSMEs said they changed their business model to survive the Covid-19 impact.
When asked about the nature of adjustments made in their businesses, 56 per cent MSME respondents said they were forced to adopt digital for marketing and payments, while 38 per cent said they focused on improving their customer relations. 35 per cent respondents had to take external financial help to support their businesses, while 34 per cent said they moved to a remote working model.
“Our goal for this survey was to identify the breadth and depth of the pandemic’s second wave’s impact on India’s MSME sector, and how we could mitigate this impact and address their problems before another wave hits us. We are glad to see that the small businesses we surveyed have shown tremendous resilience and adaptability to survive. Our observation is that businesses with asset-light models, or those who altered their business models with ease to reduce the cash drain have successfully survived the lockdowns and the aftermath of Covid,” said Amit Kumar, CEO and Co-founder MSMEx.
While 11 per cent respondents said their business has had a positive impact from the pandemic, 15 per cent respondents also said in response to a separate question that their business was performing better than pre-covid times.
When asked about the support received from government schemes and incentives, 50 per cent of the respondents said that the schemes did not help them with sustaining their business through the pandemic. Only 18 per cent of the respondents found government schemes to be supportive. On the contrary, 42 per cent of the respondents said they took financial help from friends and family.
Looking ahead, 42 per cent of the respondents agreed that they need help to address delayed client payments, while 35 per cent wanted government support in the form of lower input costs. 36 per cent of MSMEs surveyed also sought help for dealing with mental stress caused by the unforeseen disruption, underlining the importance of mental health and business coaching and mentorship for running a successful business.
