‘The new year should be about giving opportunities to everyone’ –30 quotes from India’s coronavirus struggle
In this compilation, we present thought-provoking quotes from the week of December 14-20 that frame India’s battle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
COVID-19 has brought biotech to the forefront. The whole diagnostic success story happened due to academic institutions and startup participation. - Renu Swarup, DBT, GoI
COVID-19 is far from over. Even when the vaccine comes out, it will take at least three to six months for it to be distributed far and wide. Safety continues to remain a strong priority. - Harshil Mathur, Razorpay
Post-pandemic, emotional and physical wellbeing of employees will hold paramount importance and companies will adopt a holistic approach to maintain it. - Anurag Mathur, Savills India
The truth is that the chaos is just beginning, and the solutions have yet to emerge. That spells opportunity as far as the eye can see. - Patrick Schwerdtfeger, ‘Pandemic, Inc.’
We have been forced to learn, adapt, innovate and change in every walk of life, be it economic, health, global relations or, most importantly, personal relations. - Bhavna Shah, MPOC
The next frontier for human development will require working with and not against nature, while transforming social norms, values, and government and financial incentives. - UNDP
People not only want healthier options today but that they also want food that makes them happy, especially in light of the current global scenario. - EatFit
The commercial aviation segment will take at least a year and a half to recover to the pre-pandemic levels. - Manav Singh, Imperial Holding Group
All art lovers are affected by this depressing state of affairs, all over the world. - Sangeeta Juneja, Gallery Artchill
COVID-19 has unfortunately highlighted how vulnerable many people are to financial shocks in their lives. - Abhijit Bose, WhatsApp
Farmers are a critical part of India's socio-economic fabric, but they continue to face the challenge of low profitability, exacerbated by the pandemic. - Harish Krishnan, Cisco India
The year 2020, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, was practically a “wash out year” for most individuals, organisations, and governments. Yet, a lot happened; more so in IT that is eternally hot. - Sowmyanarayanan Sadagopan, IIIT-Bangalore
It has been a tough year in every way possible. And what stands out is the resilience the startups have shown. - Ruchira Shukla, IFC
With the lockdown and confusion, many SMEs had lost businesses severely. However, soon they all realised the need to go digital and have a strong digital presence. - Harshvardhan Lunia, Lendingkart
The pandemic has not been easy to deal with, especially for the MSME sector, but we are seeing many businesses optimistic about the future. -Tejas Goenka, Tally Solutions
Companies looking to gain consumer trust and capture their share of the consumption spend should focus on re-designing their existing strategies. - BCG
COVID-19 has changed the online purchasing behaviour of customers. - Divya John, NatureLoc
Food delivery in India is rapidly coming out of COVID-19 shadows. - Deepinder Goyal, Zomato
Going forward, India will reimagine the future of work across five areas, specifically the workplace, careers, recruiting, business, and leadership styles. - Ashutosh Gupta, Linkedin India
The mental block to find people from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru have reduced drastically. People across India are being hired now due to remote work. - Bhavik Rathod, Kyt
The pandemic has changed the way companies conduct business. People are now increasingly moving away from an office setup. - Shivakumar Ganesan, Exotel
If you don’t have an isolated space, space out and have people come in such a manner that they can maintain those distancing norms. - Rajinder Balaraman, Matrix Partners India
There is a permanent shift in the psychology that people are looking more closely at digital payments or contactless payments. Merchants using cash before COVID have shifted to digital payments. - Vishal Anand Kanvaty, NPCI
With the COVID-19 pandemic, ecommerce in India has grown multifold, and along with it, the consumer expectations around instant gratification for every category of online shopping. - Shiprocket
The pandemic has had a profound effect on supply chains, businesses, and economies. - Sundeep Mohindru, M1xchange
Under lockdown, agritech startups were allowed to operate because they were essential, too critical to be allowed to fail. - Mark Kahn, Omnivore
The current pandemic crisis has forced startup business owners to make quick decisions in the face of uncertainty. - Sudhir Kothari, Embee Software
Owing to the COVID pandemic, affiliate marketing has grown exponentially with the ever-changing and evolving landscape as the majority of businesses jump on the digitisation bandwagon. - Vaibhav Lall, Khojdeal
Students require a peer-to-peer learning platform. The growth of this model has accelerated as a result of the global pandemic, forever changing the way students learn. - Michał Borkowski, Brainly
The pandemic has set in a new world order and given rise to different new sectors and we see an opportunity in this new normal. - Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Venture Catalysts Group
The happiest people are those who have shown gratitude in life. - Raul Rai, Nicobar
Contrary to conventional thinking, when one is in distress, people tend to look out more for others than for themselves. - Anoj Viswanathan, Milaap
The new year should be about giving opportunities to everyone, especially those who were impacted from the pandemic. - Raghav Josh, Rebel Foods
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).