Sandeep Jain Managing Director, Monte Carlo

“Coronavirus will have a bad impact on the industry as all inventories are stuck. Goods in transit are not being sold. Goods are stuck in warehouses, so there’s total loss. We plan to cut down our winter production depending on how long it goes on. We’ll have to sell more goods on discount. If this ends in April, it will be fine and if it prolongs to June, it will be very difficult for the industry. I think it should end by end of April, as the government has taken some measures for that. The measures announced by the finance minister are not much in favor of the industry. It’s more about regulatory compliances. If she had announced a package whether for interest of GST relief, it would have benefitted the industry more.”

Kamal Kushalani, Founding Director, Mufti

“Following government directives closed all our stores and offices. Hopefully, this will be controlled in 21 days and markets open up. Both our spring/summer and autumn/winter collections are likely to be impacted as almost all production for summer is ready. We are sitting on stocks and there is no sale and absolutely no cash-flow. When markets open, we’ll have to look at demand and how much stocks are cleared. We have ordered stocks for autumn/winter which needs to be cleared without any disruption to our partners. We need to work on this together. Discounts depend on how these 21 days pan out and how much we are able to control. After that we have to look at demand and consumer sentiment and think ahead. We don’t have a plan ready as yet. Nobody has experienced anything like this before. This is not a slowdown it is a shutdown. At a time like this, government has to push up demand. But first, they need to control the spread with this lockdown. This will enable them to trickle down further spread this in itself is an achievement. Until then, uncertainty will loom making it difficult for the industry.”

Satyen P Momaya CEO , Celio Future Fashion

“We are looking at how to adjust to a new and challenging reality along with protecting the safety of our employees. Being a fashion retailer, we need tombalance the current season’s merchandise while working on possible buy reduction for the coming season. I foresee the market to remain challenging for at least a quarter even after things settle down and stores open as we fall in the non essential category and consumer sentiment will not be at its best. Therefore, I foresee a 20 per cent reduction in demand for subsequent months. We need to look at all costs to protect our bottomline and also manage the working capital. These are tough times and teams with character and determination will win.”