Coronavirus (COVID-19), a virus that grew stealthily has become one of the deadliest viruses that is killing people worldwide. This virus took birth in Wuhan city of China and since then have travelled to more than 160 countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Coronavirus as a pandemic. It has become a mass scare and is leading to the deaths of thousands of people in numerous countries including China, Italy, Iran, Spain, the US and many more. In India, this pandemic started on 30 January 2020 by affecting an individual who had travel history from Wuhan, China.

In India and around the world, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is not limited to a few sectors but is evident across all stakeholders of the economy. For instance, the venture capital activity in the Indian ecosystem has witnessed a slowdown as social distancing and self-isolation is hampering investor meetings. Similarly, a negative impact is evident across both the white-collar and the blue-collar sector.With the growing number of cases and rising fear among the public, it would not be pessimistic to say that the worst is yet to come. However, it’s just as important to take stock of the situation right now. DataLabs By Inc42 takes a peek at this brave new reality in its latest release — Business In The Times Of Coronavirus: India And The World.

This year, between January 10 and March 16, the six major stock exchanges (FTSE, Nikkei, Sensex, Dow Jones, NYSE and Hang Seng) around the globe witnessed an average 26% (or 6.1K) points decline. Among these, the worst-impacted was the S&P BSE Sensex, which shed 10.2K points resulting in a 25% decline between January 10 and March 16.The coronavirus outbreak across the countries have hampered both the supply and demand in the local economy as a result of which major industry leaders have lowered their forecasted revenue for the last quarter of FY20. All these factors combined have impacted the investor sentiment in a negative way resulting in a market panic.

What impact does the coronavirus have on the business world?
The coronavirus outbreak has adversely affected the global economy. Besides taking millions of precious lives, the Covid-19 has forced many business startups to shut down. Moreover, the practices such as social distancing and lockdown have entirely reformed the economic workflow. Several businesses have undergone numerous financial and operational challenges. It is estimated that the global economy has suffered a loss of several trillion dollars because of this ongoing pandemic.

Here are the major impacts of Covid-19 on the top business sectors across the globe:

Tour & Travel Industry

The rising strength of people infected with Covid enforced the governments to endure lockdowns in their countries. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, the number of international tourists has decreased by 58% to 78% in 2020 (accounting to somewhere between US$0.9–1.2 trillion). Even today, there are several travel restrictions that instill people to avoid travelling.

Food & Restaurant

Coronavirus has affected every phase of the supply chain and value chain of various business setups. Same is the case with the food delivery industry. During the earlier stages of lockdown, restaurants and food shops were forced to shut down. But thankfully, online food delivery helped them survive and rise again. Do you know, the annual revenue of food delivery agents like Ubereats, Doordash, Grubhub, etc. increases manifolds in the second and third quarter, 2020. All thanks to additional safety measures & features like no-contact delivery, takeouts, cashless payments, etc.

E-Commerce

This business sector has seen the most changes due to Covid-19. The pandemic completely transformed the ways people shop online. While the shops and grocery stores were closed due to lockdown, the only option left was to order from e-commerce websites. This also led the brick & mortar stores to provide home delivery options and offer their services online.

Healthcare

The most highly in demand services during this pandemic were of the healthcare sector. Increase in the sales of masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, PPE Kits, etc. has raised its annual turnover magically. Moreover, all the top pharma industries are striving hard for manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine. Several pharmaceutical companies are growing their online presence to expand their business to meet with the rising demands. Also, the telemedicine industry has gained some huge profits.

Education

Coronavirus had a deep impact on the global education sector. All the schools, universities, and educational institutions were shut down due to the imposed lockdowns. Thus, the entire education sector had to transform itself digitally and provide online classes. This also led to an increase in the number of mobile apps, websites, and online education platforms.Coming to the end, it is evident that the Coronavirus outbreak had made all the business sectors suffer some huge losses. However, the industries are coping up with the same while making use of the advanced technologies.If you also are a business owner gearing up for the next normal post Covid, aim to nurture your presence online. Get a website or a mobile app for your business that will help you provide a better user experience and manage things more efficiently!

The COVID lockdown has a lot of businesses to go bankrupt. Thousands have lost their jobs. Consequently, a lot of people are contemplating home business.Usually, when it comes to operating a business, people are compelled to buy a commercial place, travel to the office, and manage a group of people. However, the concept of home business is different. It has allowed people to discover new methods to work remotely and pursue entrepreneurship using the home as an office, even headquarters.Presently, technology has allowed a lot of flexibility related to how and from where a business can be conducted. Home business is now available in many forms. In some cases, people may be required to convert a spare room into a small storeroom, while others are fully online. However, these businesses can be operated from the existing space by using existing resources.

Any home business happens to be a venture first, whether it is a full-time one or a side business. It is something that can be operated from home by using it as a base for operations. Many home businesses, particularly those that sell online and do not involve a lot of inventory, can be operated even on the go. In this case, there is no need for even a home. Quite natural that there would be advantages and disadvantages of the new system.Second, there may be a need to alter the existing space to match the requirements of the home business idea. The challenge lies in making all that happen without disrupting personal life. Regulations need to be complied with related to the business.

There’s a possibility that the business may flourish more than expected, and then there might be a need for additional space. Home business is a lonely affair. Psychologically, it could be a problem, especially if the habit is to work with people around.While many companies have had to shut down their operations during this crisis, the pandemic has also given rise to many home businesses – a reminder for us to reconsider that we all have an entrepreneurial spirit in u.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.

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We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.

We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge