With high speculations over the extension of the lockdown, the small and medium scale business owners in the state claimed that the pressure of clearing dues related to salaries of employees, payment of taxes and fees have turned into long-term losses. Talking to TOI, Pawan Sharma, president of the collective body of readymade garments shop owners of Ghat Road said, “Every shopkeeper here has at least 6 to 8 workers and paying their salaries has become a liability. We have not earned a single penny since the lockdown was announced and now how are we supposed to pay them? In addition to this we all have loans to pay back with GST deadlines and audit fees to be cleared. In case the lockdown gets extended, we will not be able to sustain, unless the government exempts us from paying our EMI and interest along with some relaxation from taxes for a while. The lockdown will also hamper the cash flow in the market that will make the daily transaction difficult”.
According to the state government records, over 1.25 lakh industry owners are registered and over 40,000 firms come under the small and medium sized category in state. Explaining how high rents and other expenditure are making it difficult to work, Jaideep Aggarwal, a mobile application developer, said, “I have to pay Rs 35,000 rent, plus salary of 10 people and repayment of Rs 15 lakh loan.” He added that it would be impossible to get business in next three months.
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