In the absence of relief from the government, the apparels and garment sector could lose one crore jobs, Rahul Mehta, chief mentor of the Clothing Manufacturer Association of India said on Monday.

While speaking on a Webinar on the way forward for the offline retail, restaurant and textile industry post COVID-19, Rahul said that apparel businesses could face up to 40% loss of revenue and many small and medium players in the apparel industry are contemplating closure of business. 20% of the industry is also mulling closing down their businesses, he added.

“If no assistance comes from government in way of wage subsidy or a financial package, there could be loss of crores of jobs across the value chain including the garment industry, zipper industry, fabric supply industry,” Rahul said.

The webinar, which also saw participation from Anurag Katriar, president of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and B S Nagesh, founder of the Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India (TRRAIN), also voiced their expectations from the government in terms of relief for the sector.

Rahul pointed out that almost 80% of the garments industry falls under MSME business category – more on the micro business side than any other – and would therefore be impacted much harder. He suggested wage subsidy as one of the possible solutions to retain workers and said that he hopes the government would help with providing working capital and an incentive package to restart the industry.

He also said that the government can help the underprivileged by enabling the industry to help them survive. “The government’s role should shift to helping industry survive through things like moratorium, deferment of taxes, additional working capital and better terms. It is only way industry can be assisted so in turn it can help working class survive,” he added.

Speaking of how the business focus will change post the lockdown, Anurag of NRAI said that the restaurant industry will be in for a tough time and that restaurants will have to revamp their communication approach to reassure customers of safety and hygiene.

Rahul Mehta of CMAI, meanwhile, said that the apparel industry would need to rethink its volume-driven strategy, and relook the scale of their operations and their pricing policies.

“Manufacturing won’t commence for another 2-3 months from now, except to complete the work that’s already in process. Retailers won’t take fresh orders at least until the festive season. The apparel manufacturing industry will need to focus on the one aspect it has largely disregarded so far – productivity.” He also said that the recovery phase of the industry would provide opportunity for boosting exports and reducing imports.