HOPING AGAINST HOPE

COVID-19 has kicked business owners in the gut. Thousands of small businesses, employing millions, face the grim prospect of permanent closure. A survey by the All India Manufacturers’ Association found that more than a third of the self-employed and small and medium businesses did not see any hope of recovery and were on the verge of winding up. A national multi-institutional survey by the SKOCH Group, a private think-tank, and FISME (the Federation of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises) conducted towards the end of May, found that 62 per cent of surveyed MSMEs (micro, small and the recent government interventions.