2020
was a year that will be remembered through the ages. Lives were marked either
by the virus or the loss of livelihood. The virus touched everyone in different
ways. Jobs were lost in scores as companies could not generate revenues because
markets just disappeared. It was with a sense of relief every one bid goodbye
to the year. The question now one will have to ask is how industries will fare
in the New Year.
Several
companies in the state are involved in manufacturing either on a contract basis
or servicing requirements around the country. Blaise Costabir who a
manufacturing company has said his company was connected with companies
involved in infrastructure work many of them involved in road construction. He
said “Many of them are doing much better and we have good demand. This tells me
there is a big rebound and a lot of people are finishing the year on a better
note. In the month of March it looked very bleak, by the middle of the year it
was better. One has to only look at the collection of the GST with the
manufacturing sector making up for the shortfall in other sectors”. He however
advised caution with regards to the New Year. Blaise said “It is looking up but
we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Uncertainty is very high. It is more
uncertain than certain. Yes, there are green shoots of recovery but at the back
of one’s mind, we don’t really know what will happen tomorrow. ” Rajesh
Ghatge who is involved in making paper bags said last year was terrible for
business with all his orders that usually come from the hospitality industry,
resellers are ground to a stop. He said “We had shut our plant. Now we are
functioning again, orders are being serviced and hopefully, by March or April
we should be able to settle down. This is of course hoping the second wave does
not hit us. With regards to pre-pandemic days, we should reach around 60%
in terms of sales shortly.”
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A
plant making seats for vehicles in Goa is fully operational now. Harish
Mangaokar the HR Manager said there was a reduction for three months during the
lockdown but it was much definitely better now and the company expected
business to increase steadily during the course of the year.
Tirthparasad
Nagvekar who manufactures scientific electronic instruments used in
institutions of higher learning said the lockdown last year was very bad for
business but this year seemed like it would be better. He said “The market will
fluctuate but it will start moving slowly but steadily after July. People will
wait and watch how the budget turns out. But all in all this year should be
better than the last.”
Sahil
Butani who owns a company that oversees the manufacture of plastic casings for
medical components, more specifically for the Covid 19 rapid testing kit said
it was a busy time for them. He said “Because of the nature of the
business we are in, it has been very busy for. We expect this to continue well
into the New Year. We supply to diagnostic companies who are doing serious work
now. In the first week of April, we took all the permissions and started
working to supply to our clients. We are also working on an antigen product,
even though the vaccine has come, this is required for detection. We expect
this to continue for another year. We do work for companies Pan India and even
export to countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, Canada, and Turkey to name a
few.”
Everyone
likes automobiles and the virus caused great havoc in that industry too. A
senior executive from a Maruti dealership who is did not want to be named said
last year was bad it was ok but he expected this year to be pretty decent. He
said, “I have talked to customers and I can confidently say we will witness an
increase in 25 % in our sales over last year”.
Sanjay Parmekar from Toyota said last year was
very bad in terms of sales but in November and December, there were enough
indications that the New Year would bring good tidings. He said “November and
December witnessed 40-50 percent of the sales and in January we should reach
70% by March we will be selling our usual 70 odd cars which we were selling pre
covid. We get a lot of support from the hospitality industry, tour operators,
and the service industry in general. Now that it is moving again is good news
for us.”
Jaikrishna
Desai from Jeep Goa admitted last year was very bad. He said the company
usually sold around 11 to 13 jeeps every month and that had slumped drastically
though in November and December they were selling 6-7 automobiles He said “We
expect business to improve over the course of the year and we usually get
business from our existing customers who recommend our
product.”
Tourism is one of the biggest revenue
generators in the state and it was hit brutally by the virus. The market disappeared
overnight and jobs were lost in scores. Dominic Rodrigues of Bay 15 was guarded
when he said fear was still there is present in everyone’s mind. Dominic said
“I will say the last year-end was better than this year-end. I don’t think
events will happen like they used to do in the past. I will say this a la carte
restaurant will do better than one doing a buffet. This year will get better
after September, we will need to wait and watch. Mice will happen but it will
have to be seen how many companies will come here.
”
Victor Albuquerque head of the Alcon Victor group
has interests in the hospitality industry. He said “With charters also not
coming in, there will be an availability of rooms which will mean pressure on
rates. Guest’s expectations will be more. We believe the market will return to
pre-covid times in the backend of 2022. Most of the companies are still
operating out of the home so conferences will be off. We will watch and react
accordingly”.
Another
industry that is an indicator of how the market is moving is the FMCG white
good industry. Samsher Dhamani of Electronic Hub said the business was already
better than last year but that was not saying much. He said “We sell essentials
for the house like fridges, televisions, air conditioners. We were hit because
the hospitality industry was hit and we used to get orders from various hotels
and resorts. Now with the increase in import duty tax, we foresee
more problems. Prices have increased. Customers still don’t have a strong hand.
I foresee business to improve in the second quarter, the budget after the
budget”. One can only hope his wishes come true.
