COVID-19 impact: Bengaluru's shopkeepers selling puja items struggle to revive business

Shopkeepers in Bengaluru are struggling to sell their puja items as their businesses are badly hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The novel coronavirus has caused small and medium scaled businesses to suffer due to the lockdown. Sales are down as most of the temples remain closed and people perform puja at home. Also, people prefer to buy items online as it is safer with door-to-door delivery and one doesn't have to risk going outside," Srinivas Prasad, a local shopkeeper from Bengaluru, told on Tuesday.

He also said that one needs to adapt as businessmen to fit in the new normal as the lockdown has already caused a "lot of loss".

Another shopkeeper, Nagaraja, said, "There are bank loans, shop's rent and school fees for kids to be paid but the lockdown has completely shut our business in the last three months. This is a difficult situation for medium scale business owners. From earning Rs 25,000-30,000 per day we have come to earn below Rs 10,000."

He added, "This is our only means of livelihood, and let's hope things get better as and when the impact of COVID019 lessens."

There are 9,19,023 active cases of COVID-19 in India currently and 1,03,569 fatalities due to the virus have been recorded so far, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

( With inputs from ANI )