‘It’s under intense pressure that diamonds are formed’ – 25 quotes from India’s COVID-19 struggle

Launched in 2014, StoryBites is a weekly feature from YourStory, featuring notable quotable quotes in our articles of this past week. This special series of compilations focuses on India’s COVID-19 struggle (see last week’s post here). Share these quotes and excerpts with your networks, and check back to the original articles for more insights.

In a short span of time, the digital health space has evolved and online consultations have become the spine of healthcare delivery systems globally. - Ashvini Goel, Telemedicine Society of India

Going forward, we have to learn to forget the bad memories for mental well-being and embrace a healthy lifestyle for overall fitness, as health is the only wealth. - Dolly Kumar, Cosmic Nutracos

India is a country with a significantly large pool of infectious disease researchers. And a digital economy with strong domain expertise. - Vibhu Jain, Merck

The permanent shift is going to be around focussing safety and higher levels of investment in defining a food programme at work, which meets both the nutritive as well as the safety requirements. - Sanjay Kumar, Elior India

We will have to wait and see if this pandemic has really instilled in people the fact that that nature cannot be ignored, or if it will phase out as life starts to get back to normal. - Soumabrata Moulick

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Everyone has realised that technology and advancement in technology will drive the world, will drive the world economy. - Mahavir Pratap Sharma, TiE

Categories that are set to grow are those offering wellbeing, convenience, and home improvement. Moreover, discretionary and luxury categories will see a slowdown. - Hemant Mehta, Kantar South Asia

Ecommerce through the pandemic has exploded across the globe and in many ways it has condensed multiple years of growth into one. - Rajinder Balaraman, Matrix Partners India

The pandemic is a sort of inflection point for the ecommerce industry in India as more consumers are now willing to shop online. - Rakesh Kaul, SHIL

The pandemic has been a mixed bag for the interior design industry. - Srikanth Iyer, HomeLane

It is extremely encouraging to witness shoppers from both metros and tier 2 and 3 cities shop with great fervour for the entire family. - Amar Nagaram, Myntra

Digitisation took a long time coming and in a way was crucial for growth and development in the jewellery industry, a traditional industry by nature. - Meghna Saraogi and Akhil Tolani, StyleDotMe

The pandemic has had a deep impact on the country's informal economy, especially among microfinance borrowers and MSMEs. - Christine Engstrom, ADB

The pandemic has had a direct, immediate, and continuing impact on the travel industry. - Roma Datta Chobey, Google India

The mobile app economy has shown enormous resilience to the challenges posed by COVID-19, with many app verticals - such as gaming and entertainment - experiencing strong growth in 2020. - Shubham Jha, Adjust

We have seen TVs become the centre of entertainment – from being a source of news to a streaming on-demand partner. - Seline Sangsook Han, Samsung Electronics

In a matter of months, lifestyle and perspective have shifted so dramatically for everyone, and accordingly, brands have had to shift their content to ensure that their message remains relevant and well-received. - Abhijit Sonagara, Adosphere

While a huge number of businesses struggled, the pandemic in one go pulled the carpet and revealed all the chinks in the managerial armour. - Vivek Tiwari, Pragyan Advisory

The current situation has thrown up unprecedented challenges for employers and employees. Employers are looking for passionate individuals for part-time or short-time expertise jobs while employees are looking for temporary assignments. - Umang Mathur, ShortJobs

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In good times, people forget the bad. And in bad times, people forget the good. Memories are very short. - Ashish Hemrajani, BookMyShow

There is a lot to learn when there is turmoil in the market. - Sanjay Sharma, Aye Finance

The vision and courage of leaders show up in the times of crisis. - Manoj Kohli, Softbank India

It’s under intense pressure that diamonds are formed, and we’ll see more and more of that happening in the near future. - Anisha Singh, She Capital

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).