New Delhi, 11 Jan (KNN) As per the 23rd edition of the Retail Business Survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI), retail sales in December 2021 signalled 7 per cent growth over the pre-pandemic levels (December 2019) and 26 per cent (YoY) growth (compared to December 2020). 

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI) commenting on the slowing down of retail businesses, said, “Retail business was on a steady growth trajectory during most of December, however, the pace of growth was seen dropping off significantly towards the last week of December due to the fresh sets of curbs imposed in most parts of the country owing to the third wave of the pandemic.”

The overall figures appear positive, but the impact can be seen at category level with the Beauty, Wellness & Personal Care (-7%), Furniture and Furnishings (-5%) slipping into the red once again as compared to the pre-pandemic sales in December 2019. Sales across CDIT (26%), Sports Goods (14%), Jewellery (9%), footwear (7%) and Apparel & Clothing (2%) too started to lose steam, said the press release.  

RAI has appealed to the Central Government — Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare — to instruct the State Governments to refrain from imposing restrictions based on positivity rate and consider hospitalisations as the criteria to determine the severity of restrictions instead as most of the country’s population is vaccinated.

Doing so will avoid unnecessary panic among citizens and businesses while minimising the impact on livelihoods, said RAI.