The Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) on Monday said the organised retail sector has lost over Rs 90,000 crore in the last two months, owing to the lockdown, and market players need much more than the repo rate cut and the loan moratorium extended by the RBI.
In a statement, the industry body said that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) relief measures are not adequate to support the liquidity needs of the industry.
According to the SCAI, there is a common misconception that the shopping centres’ industry is centred around metros and large cities with investments only from large developers, private equity players and foreign investors.
“However, the fact is that most malls are part of the SMEs or standalone developers. i.e. more than 550 are single owned by standalone developers out of the 650-odd organised shopping centres across the country and there are 1,000+ small centres in smaller cities,” it said.
Amitabh Taneja, Chairman of SCAI, said: “The organised retail industry is in distress and has not earned anything since the lockdown and their survival is at stake. While the extension of the loan moratorium talks about some relief on repayment but won’t help the industry in liquidity.”
He said that a long term beneficial plan from the government is much required to revive the sector.
