how to spend time in the present situation of Covid19?
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Till last month, the elite club of India’s chief executives had a long list of woes — slowing sales, weak consumer demand, credit crisis, GST rates, digital disruption, policy flip-flops and rising global trade barriers.
Overnight, the onslaught of Covid-19 has decluttered their vision and given them a devastatingly focused business perspective — one that is centred on survival. Take, for instance Ajay Bijli, chairman of PVR Ltd, which saw 800 of its multiplexes shutting overnight. “What business worry can I have when everything is in a lockdown and there’s nothing you can do about it?” he asks, stoically.
As Covid-19 scare shuts the world down for business, corporate honchos are worried about the well-being of their employees and their business. Lemon Tree chairman Patu Keswani says about the enormity of the challenge: “In a high-contact business like hotels, how do you ensure your employees and guests are not exposed to this highly infectious virus with up to two weeks of dormancy?” Today, most of these globetrotters are confined to their homes, helplessly watching the Covid-19 horror story unfold. “My biggest business worry is that I don’t know how long this will continue,” says Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who is working from home, like countess others.
For some, like Amul’s RS Sodhi and Tata Power’s Praveer Sinha, conference calls are not an option. Steering firms that offer critical goods and services, they are like generals in their war rooms, battling multiple enemies simultaneously. “My biggest concern is making sure my workers reach plants. If we don’t collect milk from our farmers for a day, there will be chaos,” says Sodhi.
An unprecedented business crisis looms. And no one can see light at the end of the tunnel. “The world is staring down the barrel of a recession,” says Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Covid-19’s scourge has spared none, irrespective of sector, size and vintage. “This is not a threeweek, one-month, or six-week phenomenon. This is going to run for quite some time,” says Rajan Anandan, MD, Sequoia Capital India.
The viral contagion is ravaging economies, people and livelihoods. Globally, governments — rich and poor — are gasping for an effective coping strategy. So, as their business reels, hard-nosed honchos are enlarging their circle of stakeholders to look beyond their bottom lines to worry about the well-being of all Indians.
As the impact of Covid-19 unravels, ET Magazine reached out to chief executives to understand what’s on their mind.