Representative image of a market shutdown.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Industry leaders have criticized the two bandhs that were called this week over the Cauvery water dispute, one on Tuesday and one on Friday, claiming that strikes are not the solution and only cause significant economic losses for the state and inconvenience for the general public, TOI reported.
The losses estimated by the industry bodies for the two-day bandh amount to Rs 4,000 crore. This is a clear warning pointing out that the move may cripple the economy, which has very recently recovered from the pandemic. Also, industry bodies said that the move may act as a hindrance to becoming a $1 trillion economy anytime soon.
BC Prabhakar, president of the Karnataka Employers Association (KEA), said that Bandhs hurt the livelihoods of people, and they can never be an option for any issue, sentimental or political. While we sincerely support the motivation and sentiment behind the Cauvery issue, bandhs are not the solution, he added. “Let there be protests, but not a bandh,” Prabhakar said.
Putting economics aside, bandhs, according to Prabhakar, will damage Bengaluru's and Karnataka's credibility because they will have an impact on international agreements and commitments. The 720 member companies of KEA are instructed to make a decision about closing based on the "local situation" because the organization has declined to take a stand on the bandh.
According to the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), it will take a business entity at least a week to make up for losses from just one day of the bandh.
“One day closure by only the trading community amounts to a Rs 100 crore loss in GST collection to the state exchequer. Consider this multiple times across all spheres of economic activities,” Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, FKCCI president-elect, said.
About 80 per cent of Bengaluru's industries have agreed to close for a day on Tuesday (September 26) in light of the Cauvery issue's origins and sentiments, but they are hesitant to close again on Friday, Lahoti said. The decision is left up to the local industries, he added.
The hotelier's association, which directly or indirectly employs about 10 lakh people, projects a daily loss of Rs 100 crore from excise duties alone.
PC Rao, president of the Bengaluru Hotelier’s Association, stated that while reports suggest heavier losses, revenue generation in the hotel industry is on a daily basis.
Other industries can resume operations the following day and makeup lost revenue, but that is not an option for hoteliers, he added.
Rao also said that due to a “lack of clarity”, the hotel association cannot support the bandh call.