This year Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali Calendar, has emerged as a nightmare for businessmen as they are incurring huge losses amid Coronavirus epidemic, experts said. Businessmen are worried and put in adverse situation as their businesses have almost been shut down due to the supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus, they mentioned.
Pahela Baishakh has become a more popular festival in the country for several years and increasing participation of the corporate sector on the day has transformed it into a national cultural festival, they said. As part of its move, most of the businessmen prepared themselves with different types of products for the day, even many businessmen took loans for extra production as it is a major festival in the country, they said adding that many entrepreneurs are going to be trapped in the net of loans.
However, all the products are now piled up as people stay home for declaring lockdown in the country by the government to enforce social distancing effectively in order to slow the spread of coronavirus, they mentioned. As a result, they are under huge pressure to pay suppliers and employees, rent and different utility bills, experts said.
Almost 20 lakh people, including potters, rural and urban artisans of handicraft products, and sweet sellers or shop owners remain engaged to work for Pahela Baishakh, they added. A small and medium enterprise (SME) entrepreneur Abeda Khatun told The Bangladesh Post that, “We are passing a difficult time. If this situation continues, we will have to incur huge losses.”
“We have produced different types of products, including saris and Panjabis, for Pahela Baishakh,” she informed. “It is very difficult to sell those products in different other occasions as yarn, colour and paint used for Pahela Baishakh are unique. Mohammad Manik Chan, a boutique house owner in Araihazar in Narayanganj, manufactured special apparels for Pahela Baishakh and had a target of selling products worth Tk8-10 lakh, according to a media report.
Now he is under pressure to repay bank loan of Tk4 lakh. He managed to sell products worth only Tk2 lakh before the shutdown. Narayanganj has 8,000-10,000 small entrepreneurs who employ around 50,000 workers. President of the Bangladesh Shop Owners Association Helal Uddin said, “This year, the businessmen have witnessed huge losses due to shutdown of markets.”
He said, “It is difficult to calculate right now the extent of losses.” However, every year, businessmen invest a total of almost Tk 20,000 crore to Tk 25,000 crore in all sectors for Pahela Baishakh, he added. Shahin Ahmed, Proprietor of Anjans and President of Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh said, “Around 5 lakh people are involved with fashion house businesses across the country, where around 80 percent are women. Those people are going to face financial troubles as the fashion houses may incur losses at around Tk 2000 crore ahead of the Pahela Baishakh due to lockdown.”
“Earlier on March, local garment industry sector incurred losses of Tk 125 crore. The sector is facing similar crisis again on Pahela Baishakh,” he added. Shahin also urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to sanction Tk 500 crore as interest free loan for this sector to recoup the losses.
Senior Research Fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dr Nazneen Ahmed said, “Pahela Baishakh is one of the major cultural and economic activities in Bengali life.” For celebrating the Bangla New Year, people are usually seen buying, selling and producing goods every year as it is one of the major festivals in the country, she said.
“In the ongoing crisis, the entrepreneurs and businessmen have faced huge losses as they could not sell their products on this occasion,” she said. Hence, the government should immediately provide cash financial incentives to all sectors and individuals especially those who are the most affected by the current coronavirus in order to overcome the worsening national and global crisis, she mentioned. Ahmed urged the authority concerned to arrange different fairs for businessmen to sell their products after overcoming the terrible situation in the country.
