The COVID-19 lockdown has dealt a severe blow to the Kudumbashree microenterprises sector, as per a study report.
The unexpected lockdown has affected 23,789 enterprises under the Kudumbashree umbrella across the State. This has left 64,475 women individual and group entrepreneurs without work and income.
The study on condition of Kudumbashree microenterprises during the lockdown by Kudumbashree National Resource Organisation chief operating officer Sajith Sukumaran and State Programme Manager (Startup Village Entrepreneurship Programme) Aneesh Kumar M.S. was conducted among 1,000 entrepreneurs in 20 sectors.
The microenterprises in the production, sale, and services sector such as tailoring, catering, bakery, fashion design, cafe, restaurants, tea stall, auto and taxi business, furniture work, bag production, hygiene products, aluminium fabrication, workshops, beauty parlour, barber shops, vegetable and fish business, construction units, pickle and curry manufacturers, DTP, coir, terracota, and so on were affected, the study says.
A chunk of the Kudumbashree enterprises are related to manufacture of food products and their sale. Following the restrictions, the women who eked out a living from these enterprises were unable to run them or sell the food products already manufactured. They also suffered owing to damage to raw material.
Bakeries, restaurants, provision stores, and food manufacture units are examples of such enterprises. Women running tea, coffee, soft drinks, and snacks stalls, besides pickle, curry powder, and rice, puttu, and other powder manufacturers, were badly affected. With cancellation of prior orders, the catering sector experienced severe losses.
Units that took bank loans to the tune of ₹3 lakh to ₹4 lakh to invest in the garment manufacture sector with an eye on the Vishu sales are on the verge of debt. Door-to-door sales were also made difficult owing to curbs on transportation to maintain social distance.
As most enterprises were started or expanded using bank loans, the loss of production has made it difficult to repay the loans or pay rents for the units. Those running units from their houses are the only ones who did not have a rent problem.
In the case of many units, acute lack of raw material and absence of transportation to facilitate sale of products also posed a problem.
