Almost every segment of the economy has been hard hit, including the manufacturing sector, and the MSMEs have borne the brunt and are likely to be worst-hit writes Deepak Pahwa.

The global economy, which was not in a great shape to begin with, prior to the Corona Virus pandemic, has been shellshocked with the sheer grip and effect which the virus has had over the world and the economy.

The lockdowns have pushed people to stay indoors, businesses to shut shop and has shaken the economy to the core, disrupting almost every industry and sector. The world economy is in shambles. According to reports, China’s GDP that is approx. 19.7% of total global GDP, will decelerate by 1 – 1.25 percentage points over 2020 because of less production. Which means the estimated loss, the global GDP will suffer will be somewhere between 0.5 to 1 percentage point in the same duration. Here the economy was already at a downturn, and thus, may take longer to recover, though 2022 is being predicted as the year India will see a good growth. However, at this point of time, it is just conjecture as we are not yet rid of the COVID-19.

Almost every segment of the economy has been hard hit, including the manufacturing sector, and the MSMEs have borne the brunt and are likely to be worst-hit during this period. It is a chain reaction actually. There is a lockdown almost all across the world and as such, neither is manufacturing happening nor sale. Both the domestic and export sector is stymied. There are finished goods which cannot be supplied due to want of transportation as well the buyer’s inability to take delivery. We have been fortunate to have been given permission to operate in a limited manner and hope to start shipping to our customers.

We at Bry-Air and the other group companies of Pahwa Group, have started operating with limited resources and a lot of safeties and precautions. There are new challenges every day, whether workers not being allowed to come to work in spite of permissions, or the delivery of manufactured goods to our clients and supply of raw-material to our manufacturing facilities but I have always believed that challenges bring about efficiencies. One has to plan and act to get results. Our business is mainly into providing moisture control equipment, gas phase filtration and air-treatment solution that are critical to sectors such as pharmaceutical, food, medical plastics, hospitals, data centres, just to name a few. We have orders from USA, China and other countries which we are hoping to start shipping soon.

After being at standstill for almost a month, the latest advisory from Government of India does seem to be putting the wheel back in motion. Most manufacturing companies are gearing up to begin production with a skeletal staff, adhering to the guidelines issued by the ministry. Though some people are a little jittery about coming to work, most are eager to start coming to work . The onus of providing a safe, secure and assuring work environment at the plants is the top priority across boardroom discussions.

At Bry-Air and group company DRI, as I have mentioned earlier , we are slowly getting back on track starting with our operations in 3 facilities in Gurgaon and one in Manesar. We had carefully evaluated all our options and planned our activities in last few weeks in anticipation of starting the operations. All SOPs and safeties have been taken care of. Everyone is being sensitized regularly to follow the safeties and precautions, right from the security guards to housekeeping staff to workers. SOPs have been put in place for external resources like transporters, vendors, etc. We have found everyone very receptive.

Indians are very resilient and will bounce back, a little slowly may be to start with .At the moment the focus is on personal and economy’s health, where neither of the two can be placed after the other. Having said that, as we stand today, we have invested the last one month in preparing to face the new normal. This whole pandemic break has given us a moment to stop, gather data, analyse, enhance our knowledge, simplify our processes and put together a plan for the future. Going forward, we have to be positive in our approach and have a more constructive outlook to adapt to every new way of life. Times are and will be tough but we will climb out of this chasm.