Effects of COVID-19 on the Internet Economy of India

The deadly COVID-19 has swept the global economy and most of the countries are already leading to stagflation at a very rapid rate. Well, if we talk about India, then it is not wrong to say that we too are in a very crucial condition, as our economy has also suffered a lot and we have no idea where this massacre would lead us, maybe it would result in some kind of depression of economy, mass unemployment, and much more. But, as of now, let us try to understand the impact that this merciless beast has made on the Internet and what the future of the same lies in our country.

India is the second-most populous country in the world and a large population depends and uses the Internet, and so does all the major and minor industries, in short almost each and everything is directly and indirectly dependent on the Internet. Thus, the digital economy has affected badly by this global pandemic and especially during the ongoing lockdown period. The UPI based payments have seen a drastic fall of around six per cent and seven per cent by volume and value respectively. And it is the first time since many years that the digital transactions have witnessed such a huge fall.

Also, see: What various tech business veterans of India are bearing amid COVID-19.

Key Digital Economy businesses affected by Coronavirus

Well, not only digital transactions have fallen but there are many other major things those also have completely come to a standstill. Here is a quick overview of some online business verticals effecting immensely by Coronavirus. 

Online Hotel & Ticket bookings

The travel and hotel booking has also come to zero, the online industry which is one of the most mighty and iconic players of this game has come to a big zero. Since there are no online bookings at all.  The online train, flight, bus, etc have been stopped, which otherwise record huge bookings which sometimes even go so high that they disrupt the server and to our surprises, they are now lying idle and suffering losses worth billions of dollars.

Being a 130+ billion people country, on the daily basis people keep on moving for their important work or business-related stuff, celebrities are also travelling a lot continuously for their projects and tight schedule, and so are the politicians, high profile ministers, gazetted officers and other staff of the government sector. Well, this is just a normal data, which happens all around the year, but this was the time of summer vacations in India when most of the people plan a holiday and the summer vacations in all the schools just add fuel to fire, as of now, you could have imagined the amount of loss suffered just buy the online ticket and hotels booking industry alone.

E-commerce Store

Now, in this recession, how can the e-commerce deliveries apps be left behind, they also have their share of stories to tell. Amidst this lockdown, they all have seen almost eighty per cent fall in their business and there is no doubt regarding the same.

Although the public wants to buy more than any other time in history from these apps now, and also these apps want to sell more than any time back, but still they just cannot do anything due to the fear of the deadly Wuhan virus (China).

So, they have also suffered immense losses and are also suffering right now and maybe it will last for an unpredictable time in future.

Furthermore, we all need to keep in mind, that by these losses, companies are not suffering alone, their employees are also a part of it, all those middle-income people who depend only on the salary which they get from their work and then they use the very same to feed themselves and their families are now left almost hopeless, as they are not getting any salary or even if they are getting then that is very few and that too in a very rare case. So, as of now, you might have understood the level of effect that this virus has made on India’s e-commerce sector.

Online Loan Providers & medical stores

The online loan providers have witnessed a fall of over sixty per cent in their business and this rate is only expected to increase further in the coming time to make things worse. And the online medical store, yes the evergreen and popular online medical stores, which also have several online apps which used to deliver all the essential medicines quickly to us are now struggling to make those deliveries and have reported immense fall in their business too.

Online cab services

The next in our list comes to the online cab services, namely- Ola and Uber, as they are the most popular online cab services in India, and no doubt every day millions of Indians used to ride them, but now there are hardly any cabs available for us to ride as going out itself banned, so cab riding is just like daydreaming for all of us. But, it has also slapped these supergiants by huge losses and their net revenues and profits have also become very low for the first time. Furthermore, drivers, those still have pending loans of their vehicles they purchased to run under Cab services like I said Ola and Uber, now they are getting piles of the hefty loan amount; although the government has announced that loan companies would not ask for payment while lockdown period, eventually after lockdown they have to pay after all. Loan payment, household expenses, the family take care expenses just think how misery the conditions will be for them, once the government lift the curbs.  

Online food ordering

The same is the case with other big online players like- Rapido, the online app from which you can take a motorcycle or scooter ride to your destination, online food ordering apps like- Swiggy, Zomato, Food Panda, etc. The online utility apps like Urban Clap which is also loved and trusted by most of us to get our small to medium household work done. And almost every app or any service or thing related to the internet is affected either by complete or a very heavy to the moderate margin by this pandemic. Moreover, in recent news, a pizza delivery boy got infected while serving the home deliveries which has now escalated the apprehensions of people even on online food home delivery that whether it would be safe to order or not. 

So, as we have clearly understood the impact that this evil-minded conqueror from China has made in India, but all of us should remember that the person who is suffering most are the employees of all these diverse categories of companies that are based completely on the internet. Many of these employees are left with no income, while some are even fired, and so on.

Thus, there is no doubt that in this global recession, we must be very much determined and ready to face the worst and even remain all set to welcome the best future that awaits us after we are done with this virus. But in between, all of us must do our job and that is of staying locked down in our homes and also helping daily wage earners or people like the ones mentioned above in the article in every way possible, as even the smallest contribution made by you counts a lot, as we all know that majestic oceans are nothing but a combination of tiny droplets.