MAHARISHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY, ROHTAK

ASSIGNMENT ON :
Analyse the impact of pandemic COVID-19 on
service sector.

SUBJECT : Marketing of Services.

2018-2020

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. Kuldeep Chaudhary NAME-Ashok Kumar
Class- MBA BE 2.4
Roll No.-3017

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AND RESEARCH

(IMSAR)
COVID-19 pandemic pulls India’s service
sector activity into contraction mode:
India’s services sector activity contracted during
March as the COVID-19 pandemic dented demand,
particularly in overseas markets, while public health
measures aimed at stemming the outbreak curtailed
discretionary spending, a monthly survey said on
Monday.
The IHS Market India Services Business Activity
Index was at 49.3 in March, down from February’s
85-month high of 57.5, as the new coronavirus
pandemic pulled the service sector into contraction.
The headline figure fell by over 8 points, undoing
the strong gains in growth momentum seen
throughout 2019, the survey said.
COVID-19 impact: More staff in
services sector cos to work from
home in future as well:
When the COVID-19 pandemic came ashore
and moves like lockdowns were being
deliberated upon, the USD 180-billion IT sector
faced a huge challenge for business continuity.
More than a month into it, industry executives
feel it has been a blessing in disguise and will
lead to a larger number of people to work from
home in the post coronavirus world.They
attribute the emerging scenario to cost and
productivity gains out of WFH (Work From
Home) and it is not just the IT sector which is
reaping the benefits. Companies across the
services sectors, including banks, are set to
have fewer people work from the offices in the
future. India was put under a three-
week lockdown from March 25, which was
extended by 19 more days till May 3, to arrest
the spread of coronavirus infections. As the
promised date nears, there is an increasing
possibility that the lockdown will be extended in
many pockets, which have turned into hotspots.
At present, many employees travel long
distances to workplaces in cities plagued with
traffic issues and high air pollution.

COVID 19 Impact On Field Service

Industry:
The harsh COVID-19 impact is very much visible on
a global scale. The pandemic has changed how we
work for the foreseeable future, and the field
services industry is no exception. In-spite of
“appliance services” being classified under
“essential services”, service contractors may not
want their technicians to visit service locations to
offer services (as it may further add to the spread of
pandemic).This has created a need for a new and
improved service offering medium that independent
service providers (field service providers) can adopt
to offer their services while keeping everyone
“safe”. It must ensure customers and technicians are
healthy and safe. Several guidelines have already
been issued by the government to grapple against the
impact of COVID19. Let’s have a look at the
suggestions that field service organizations may
adopt to ensure the flow of services to the clients
keep safety as the foremost concern.

How badly has coronavirus hit India’s

services sector:
Businesses providing services of everything
from technology to travel & trade were the first
to be hit when govt announced the lockdown.
From call centers to hotels to airlines, India’s
key services industries have come to a standstill
during the coronavirus outbreak, dragging the
economy into possibly its worst recession on
record.

Businesses providing services of everything

from technology to travel and trade were the
first to be hit when the government took
unprecedented steps to lock down a nation of
1.3 billion people to stem the pandemic’s
spread. Unlike manufacturing-heavy economies
like China and South Korea, in India, the
services sector accounts for 55% of gross
domestic product — and the slump in output
has had ripple effects on jobs and economic
growth.
GDP data on Friday will probably show growth
cooled in the three months through March to
1.6% from 4.7% in the previous quarter. With
services taking a knock, banks like Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. see the economy contracting a
record 5% in the current fiscal year that began
April 1. At 5.4, India’s main services index had
the world’s worst reading in April, an
“astonishingly low” figure, said Priyanka
Kishore of Oxford Economics. “The hit to
services might end up being similar to
manufacturing, as opposed to previous episodes
of demand shocks when services remained
largely unscathed.”

The pandemic poses a challenge for companies

such as Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy
Services Ltd., who are part of India’s $181-
billion IT services industry that builds software
and provides services to some of the world’s
biggest banks and retailers. While Infosys and
smaller rival Wipro Ltd. refrained from
projecting full-year revenue, TCS reported a 1%
slip in quarterly profit.
Kishore sees sectors that rely more on social
interactions, such as hospitality and
entertainment, enduring the most pain.

Jobs Lost:
Services emerged as the key employment
growth engine before the crisis hit, with the
sector even outperforming agriculture and
industrial expansion when the economy was
slowing last year. The lockdown though has
forced businesses offering services like ride-
hailing, food delivery, hotel bookings and real
estate to cut jobs in recent weeks. About 122
million people were out of jobs in April alone,
according to estimates by the Center for
Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt.

“The tourism industry will witness an

unprecedented scale of job losses,” said
Patanjali Govind Keswani, chairman and
managing director of Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd.
“Currently 60% of branded hotels in India are
shuttered while the remaining 40% are
operating with less than 10% of revenues.”
While a new set of daily activity gauges from
Bloomberg Economics suggest the worst may be
over as governments ease lockdowns, there’s no
strong rebound yet. India has allowed
businesses to begin gradually reopening since
April 20, but a shortage of workers has made it
difficult to resume operations fully. The
lockdown left millions of migrant workers
stranded around the country without access to
incomes, while millions more fled to their
villages and are reluctant to return to the cities.

Survival Issue:
Within the travel industry, the aviation sector is
expected to lose $3.6 billion in the three months
to June, according to CAPA Centre for Aviation.
Restaurants will probably operate at 25%-30%
of their monthly service levels in the first 45
days after the lockdown is lifted, and are on
course for a 40%-50% drop in revenue this
fiscal year, said Crisil Ltd.
Care Ratings Ltd. estimates 5 trillion rupees of
revenue losses in the travel and hospitality
industry and 35-40 million job cuts.

“All would be focused on the survival of their

business rather than expansion,”The
government has unveiled a support package
worth 21 trillion rupees ($277 billion) to help
cushion the blow, including easing access to
credit for small businesses and offering cheap
loans to workers and farmers. Many analysts
see those measures as doing too little to revive
demand in the economy in the near-term.

In Conclusion
Today the world is going through a tough situation.
Every business is fighting against the pandemic in
order to plan new ways that could revive the
business. The condition of field service
organizations is no different. However, some
companies have already adopted new strategies so
that they could survive successfully against all odds.
THANK YOU