The National Restaurant Association of India, which sent out an advisory to all restaurants to shutdown operations till March 31 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, appealed to the Finance Ministry on Monday for financial relief so that the industry may survive.
Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI, in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that while preventing loss of direct jobs was the association’s prime concern, it was also concerned about the dreams of many young entrepreneurs in the sector getting shattered due to the calamity.
“We, as an industry, operate with a very high proportion of fixed operating expenses which makes our business high-risk even in case of moderate revenue fluctuations. Now we are staring at almost zero revenue in the immediate term and at least 50% drop for months thereafter. We are therefore seeking support from everyone in the ecosystem in mitigating these fixed operating costs so that our losses are contained to manageable levels,” Mr. Katriar said.
Some of the demands made are deferment of all statutory dues at the Central and State level, moratorium on bank loans, restoration of input tax credit on GST for the sector and a general invocation of force majeure clause in view of te global pandemic.
“We are staring at unmeasurable losses, prospect of several businesses closing down and most importantly, a scary spectre of job loss to millions in the sector employing more than seven million people,” the NRAI said.
The NRAI had advised its members on March 20 to keep their restaurants shut. With the lockdown being announced in Delhi, only take away orders have been allowed and restaurants have been shut till March 31.
