With the lockdown being extended to 3rd May, there have been some relaxations being made in the second phase. Until now, only the delivery of essential services and goods was permitted which led delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Dunzo shifting their businesses to only deliver daily requirements.
The Centre has announced that all e-commerce services can be allowed to work full-fledged from April 20th and the decision to allow this in full capacity will be with the states. The states will have to ensure this movement based on areas and the highest level of sanitisation and social distancing has to be maintained.
After the announcement of the extended lockdown and relaxations, 4 states- Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha have said they will be allowing the sale of all e-commerce goods and services from April 20. Other states like Telangana, Karnataka, and Haryana are still assessing the situation and are yet to make a decision.
The heaving losses can be felt on the backbone of the economy as businesses remain shut. There is also an increased demand for products that could be helpful for the current work from home situation. Since people were not prepared for the unprecedented pandemic, appliances such as laptops, wifi routers, washing machines, phones, etc are needed most currently.
While these states have allowed for online deliveries they have specified that containment zones and hotspots won’t be delivered to.
