Coronavirus cost retail sector `19 lakh crore: CAIT

New Delhi: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Friday estimated that Covid-19 pandemic has inflicted a loss of about Rs 19 lakh crore to India's retail industry in the past five-months.

The confederation said that these estimates are collected from figures received from 20 major cities in various states.

Consequently, CAIT appealed to Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman to advise banks "not to charge any interest or penalty from traders for the time being".

"If government can condone the loans of certain sectors, we the traders of India are simply demanding to off load us from bank interests and other liabilities for the time being," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal was quoted as saying in a statement.

According to Khandelwal, the pandemic had resulted in great turmoil for domestic trade to the extent that even after 'Unlock-4', traders across the country are "highly depressed".