83 % production hit in Pune district

Renuka Suryavanshi

Covid19 pandemic has affected several sectors. With prolonged lockdown in several areas, production industry was hit severely due to the restrictions which were imposed on travelling and restrictions on number of people working in the industries. 

The industries were hoping for increased production post November – December when the restrictions were relaxed. But, surge in cases in the month of March has definitely brought the industries back to their pre-Covid business. 

Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture conducted the thirteen survey during the Covid times. In the recently held survey, over 150 organisations participated in the survey from Pune district. 

Current level of Production:
On an average, the surveyed companies said that their current level of production has decreased from 83% in March to 69% in April.

Employees Working:
On an average, the surveyed companies informed that the number of employees working has decreased from 86% in March to 70% in April.

Future expectations:
The companies which were surveyed were also asked about when their production levels were expected to be the same as they were pre-pandemic. 24% of the companies stated their production was already at pre-COVID levels. 19% of the respondents now said that they expect their production levels to go back to the pre-Covid levels in less than 3 months. 35% of the respondents said they expect it to take between 3 to 6 months and 22% said it would take more than 6 months.  

Profile of respondents:
The distribution of organisations surveyed from micro, small, medium and large scale organisations was 14%, 34%, 21% and 32% respectively.

66% of the organisations surveyed were from the manufacturing sector, 14% from the services sector and the rest were involved in both manufacturing and services.

Sudhir Mehta, President, MCCIA said, “Supply chains are once again disrupted and we are really concerned about the small, informal manufacturers and contact-based services. Government at centre and state must front-load their allocations for MSMEs, industries and infrastructure development in FY 21-22.”

Prashant Girbane, Director General, MCCIA informed, “Given the heightened levels of restrictions, the drop was expected. Glad that the drop is not as bad as it was in April 2020. Godforbid if there is any more contribution of restrictions, it needs to come along with increased level of economic activities and not reduced as impact on livelihoods for those who work at the bottom of economic pyramid is unbearable. ”