The coronavirus outbreak has caused business losses of Rs 12 lakh crore to the retail trade sector in the last 45 days, said the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

“We estimated the state wise loss of internal trade and found that total trade and commerce loss due to Covid-19 for the country stands at about 12 lakh crore, which is quite a huge loss as the total value of the domestic trade in the country is estimated at Rs 115 lakh crore per annum," Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General CAIT said.

There are about 8 crore small businesses in the country which are involved in trading activities.

However, as the Covid 19 numbers taper gradually, there is hope that the losses will be contained in the coming months.

“We are still in the second month of the current financial year, if the Covid 19 cases are contained now, there will be ample time for the businesses to make up for the losses. The focus should therefore be to contain the spread of the virus,” a senior executive engaged with a multinational company said.

After touching a daily figure of over 4 lakh additional cases, the numbers have now come down to less than 3.5 lakh a day. Experts have suggested that states like Maharashtra and Delhi have peaked though several others such as West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Assam among others are yet to peak.