Indian businesses start to feel COVID-19 impact

As the spread of coronavirus and resultant fatalities continue to make headlines, Indian businesses have started to feel the heat with disruption in the supply-demand scenario, according to a LocalCircles report on Monday.

New Delhi, Feb 17 As the spread of coronavirus and resultant fatalities continue to make headlines, Indian businesses have started to feel the heat with disruption in the supply-demand scenario, according to a LocalCircles report on Monday.

According to a survey by the community-based social media platform, 19 per cent Indian entities said they were facing supply disruption, while 26 per cent said to be noticing weak demand following the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Top Indian imports from China include electronic equipment, machinery, organic chemicals, fertilisers, vehicle components, telecom equipment and mobile phones. The COVID-19 outbreak has also restricted trade movement to and from China, which might impact India manufacturing units that are dependent on these Chinese imports, the report said.

"The pharmaceutical industry for instance has 8-10 weeks' inventories. But it believes if the China supply shutdowns extended to April, there will shortage of generic drugs in India," it said.

China is India's biggest trade partner after the US and supplies some critical input items to our industries.

( With inputs from IANS )