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Today, the entire world is fighting against a global pandemic. Almost all countries have been shut down streets, trains, flights, markets, schools, colleges, and factories. India too is facing the same lockdown as on March 25, the Prime Minister of India had announced a 21-day lockdown across the nation. However, this lockdown is justified to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. Meanwhile, on the other side, it put the country’s economy on complete bed rest.

The outbreak of coronavirus, known as Covid-19, which started exponentially from China, has stalled almost every country’s economy, be it China itself or Europe and the US, all are following the same model to combat the virus.

Excepting essential services like pharmacy, electricity, gas, water supply, broadcasting, financial services and public administration, and defence, all other sectors have been completely shut down. Also, the impact on agriculture, which is seasonal in nature, cannot be determined exactly. While each sector has its own dynamics and diverse cycles, one week for the organization considering various factors of production, materials, capital to migrate to the production capacity would be feasible.

The lockdown in India, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the largest such exercise in the world, may not be enough to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. During an interview, he said, “This is a serious concern because not only does the lockdown keep people from going to work, it keeps them at home which is not necessarily that pristine isolated place, but can also be a slum where people live together. Rajan also emphasized the country's weak infrastructure as an impediment to the government's Covid-19 fight, saying all resources need to be used to tackle the current health crisis.

The lockdown has immensely impacted daily wage workers, emptying the pocket. It stifles the economy at the core. Industries like local travel, hospitality, aviation and retail have hit hard. Moreover, analysts also concern about more jobs cut, demand is suppressed which will lead to a bad recession.

We are nearly 2 weeks to go to a 3-week lockdown and if the situation comes under control within the days, we may bounce back. But if it lasts over two months, the country will struggle for years to come back on track. According to reports, even if global economies bounce back sooner than expected, MSMEs in India are likely to pay a high price. The sector is too small to have enough of a moderate to last through the pandemic. In fact, most of MSMEs companies have been asked to down shutters or halt operations while still paying employees and that is apart from meeting costs for taxes, power, and other utilities.

To curb the situation, PM Narendra Modi has announced the creation of an economic task force to suggest some steps. This is as necessary as beefing up the country’s healthcare system. In addition, reports said that MSMEs employ more than 110 million people, asking companies to keep paying during a prolonged lockdown. However, MSME representatives have appealed to the government for concrete action, such as tax concessions, easy access to credit, GST write-offs, and reimbursement or concession for wage-guarantee, reports noted.