How SMEs Can Survive During Lockdown

Novel Coronavirus has affected the economy of almost all countries. It slowed down the economic growth of the world. Japan is the first country to be declared officially to go into recession. Many start-up companies had shut down their business due to this pandemic. Can these Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises be saved? The answer is yes. There is also a bright side of the COVID 19 pandemic. The Honourable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi has said that we should see this pandemic as an opportunity.

In this article, we will share some tips that are helpful for the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector. Let’s begin.

Cash: Fuel to Run the Business

Cash is the fuel to run a business. But due to the epidemic, many businesses are facing the shortage of this fuel. Hence, if you want to save your business, you have to manage your cash wisely. For this, you have to cut all your unnecessary expenses. Let’s take an example if you cook food on the low flame, you can save up to 25% of the fuel. Similarly, to save your business, you have to renegotiate with your employees. In this hard time, all government employees are taking deductions in their salaries. The same you can discuss with your employees.

Take an Advantage of Atma Nirbhar Scheme of the Government

The Government of India declared Rs. 20 lakh crore relief package for businesses. This package will help the Indian economy to revive. In this package, the government will provide 3 lakh crore collateral-free loan to MSMEs. These loans will be for a period of 4 years. The government has provided one more relief to the MSMEs under this loan package. Borrowers need not pay the principal amount for the first 12 months. Another 50,000 crore loan package has been declared by the Indian Government for MSME industries through equity investment in them.

These are some of the highlights of the loan package. You can get detailed information about the loan on contacting banks. This loan will help your business to survive during this hard time.

Generate Instant Cash

You are a businessman, hence, you have credit cards. You can use these credit cards to generate instant cash. What are you thinking? How to withdraw cash by using your credit cards? There is a solution to this. If you have a payment gateway linked with your bank account, you can generate cash directly in your bank accounts by these payment gateways. Doing this, you will get 50 days to pay back this amount. After this period, you can pay the remaining amount in installments.

Contact Your Clients for Money

You can contact your clients to complete their pending payments. If they are unable to do so, you can put an option of making the payments in installments. By doing this, you will not create any burden on your clients and also a good image of yours will be created in front of your clients.

Advertise More and More

Advertising is the key to success for all businesses. In this hard time, you can focus on advertisements. Due to the pandemic, the cost of an advertisement has been decreased from up to 50%. You can take advantage of this time and advertise your brand more and more. According to a report, traffic has increased to 87% on social media during this lockdown. Hence, you can take this as an opportunity and post your ads on all social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, & YouTube.

Don’t Waste Your Time

Time is precious and never returns. Hence, you can utilize this time by researching your competitors. You can study their strategies. This will benefit you for a long time.

Get Ready for Receiving Online Orders

Scientists have declared that coronavirus will remain for a long time. Therefore, in the post-lockdown period, the scope of offline shopping will decrease. Due to COVID 19 pandemic, most of the shoppers will like to shop online. Therefore, you will be ready for receiving online orders and delivering them to the destination.