Sectoral impact of COVID-19 on micro enterprises with special reference to Kerala

Abstract

The aftershocks of the novel corona virus had shut down several sectors in the global economy. Due to challenges like raw material shortage, lack of demand, high turnover, delay in bill payments and orders caused by the lockdown restrictions, the micro enterprises were seriously affected the most. On the basis of the background, the present study deals with sectoral impact of Covid crisis on the micro enterprises. Challenges with respect to production, employment, finance and sales are discussed in the paper. Business like Kudumbashrees, handicraft, handloom and dairy farm, covering the whole Kerala with 14 districts, are considered to be more vulnerable to the negative shocks and are hence taken onto the study to identify the kind of factors that led to the hampering of the business. One of the major objectives of this study is to identify and analyse the challenges faced by the micro enterprises during Covid-19. The study also needs to understand the coping mechanisms adopted by these micro-enterprises during the crises. Primary data collection, via questionnaires and telephonic interview, is taken for the study where in 80 is chosen as the sample size.