Covid-19 impact: 75 pc of small and cottage industries completely closed

Kathmandu: Coronavirus infection (Covid-19) has had the greatest impact on small domestic industries.

According to a study conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, small and cottage industries have been most affected by corona in Nepal.

On the basis of the industries surveyed, 10.81 percent are completely closed and 89.19 percent are partially operational, among the completely closed industries, the number of small and cottage industries is 75 percent.

Of the industries surveyed, 54 percent of the industries have seen a decline in production capacity by 50 percent. Similarly, the production of 32.43 percent of the industries has declined to 75 percent, while the production capacity of 23.52 percent of the participants in the study has decreased by 75 percent.

Among the small and cottage industries participating in the study, 82.35 percent said their products were affected by the covid epidemic. Similarly, 76.47 percent small and cottage industries said that it is difficult to procure raw materials and also affected labor mobilization. Similarly, 88.24 percent small and cottage industries have not been able to market their products.

In the case of large scale industries, the procurement of raw materials, production of goods and services, labor mobilization and marketing have been affected.

Similarly, small and cottage industries have closed down due to corona, while large scale industries have made profit. According to a study conducted by the ministry, 66.67 percent of the survey participants are in profit. However, the share of small and medium enterprises in profit is 16.22 percent.

Workers in small businesses have lost most of their jobs due to corona. Since then, employment has been lost in small, medium and large scale industries. During that period, men lost a significant number of jobs compared to women.