Wider vaccination to help heal sentiment

Indian business leaders said the slowing pace of vaccination and work from home (WFH) fatigue are weighing down demand and damaging revival prospects. Immediate, large-scale inoculations and reducing fatalities are key to restoring consumer confidence. Top corporates said the inability to deploy employees where needed on ground for the implementation of plans has frustrated growth in terms of speed of execution and scaling up.Biopharmaceutical company Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said getting growth back on track will be difficult unless corporates can vaccinate their workers. “Targeted vaccination camps can prove effective. A 95% WFH (model) is not sustainable and we need to bring it to 50% for optimal productivity,” she said.Inoculation is a must for those working in construction and delivery, driving cabs or living in close proximity within slums and other urban agglomerations, to help stop the spread, said Mazumdar-Shaw. Industry executives warned of demand plateauing in the June quarter amid last-mile logistical hurdles and limited operational timings in organised retail and neighbourhood stores in high-caseload states.“Uncertainty about the virus and the slowing pace of vaccination will impact demand in April-June, even if lockdowns are lifted,” said Arvind Mediratta, managing director of wholesale retail chain Metro Cash & Carry. “Customer sentiment and confidence is getting impacted and is directly impacting offtake of discretionary and even essentials consumption because consumers are continuing to divert spends towards medical equipment and healthcare.”The intensity of the second wave and the slowdown in inoculation have exposed gaps in the healthcare system.“After having been caught off guard in the second wave amid crippling medical infrastructure across urban and rural India, the slowing pace of vaccinations is further impacting lifting of curbs and reinviting problems in the near future,” said Arup Chauhan, executive director, Parle Products, India’s largest biscuits maker.Amid a vaccine shortage, the health ministry has now allowed family members and dependents of employees to be covered in drives conducted at workplaces this weekend. It had initially said workplace inoculations wouldn’t extend to family members.Need for Assurance Loss of consumer confidence is directly proportional to the scale of the pandemic, said Bharat Puri, managing director at adhesives company Pidilite Industries. “Given the scale and intensity of the second wave, clearly, consumer confidence is shaken,” he said. “The long-term solution to continued consumer confidence is large-scale vaccination. Until then, Covid-appropriate behaviour is the only solution.”The impact of the second wave has been greater than the first, not only on healthcare infrastructure but also on manufacturing as well as consumer sentiment, said Welspun Group chairman BK Goenka.“I strongly believe that in order to bend the curve of this pandemic, vaccinating our frontline workers and getting them ready for the next big economic leap is crucial,” he said. “We need to get the fear out of people and vaccination will address both lives and livelihood, going forward.”82897537Executives said they have had to be restrained in the deployment of employees — already reduced because of the pandemic — keeping in mind their safety. The key to economic recovery will be restoring the confidence of a population spooked by the disease, given the scale of the second wave, said Amit Syngle, chief executive of Asian Paints. “Accelerating vaccination is obviously critical, but even more crucial is to bring the fatality rate down to zero,” he said, citing improved health infrastructure and innovation in treatment as ways in which this could be achieved. “Once people are assured of the above, markets will open and the economy will grow by leaps and bounds.”Normalcy at WorkCompanies said WFH fatigue is setting in and can be only reversed once vaccinations are widespread. “While work from home was supposed to last six to nine months, it’s almost 15 months,” said Mazumdar-Shaw.Indian office workers feel stagnant in their roles and waste five business hours per week on mundane tasks, according to a new study, even as many companies are drawing up hybrid models for their employees.

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