‘The road to recovery is not very far’ – 20 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.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Youth have been hit harder than adults (25 and older) in the immediate crisis and risk bearing higher longer-term economic and social costs. - National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

Customers have become more health-conscious than ever before and are looking for non-chemical products to ensure their safety. - Jagadeesh Kumar, The Indus Valley

The pandemic times have brought out a priority in celebrations — protection from the deadly virus. - Manish Mittal, Panoramic Episodes

According to the Dun & Bradstreet COVID-19 Commerce Disruption Tracker, the coronavirus outbreak impacted MSMEs disproportionately. - Akash Anand

As the country looks forward to getting back on track post the second wave of the pandemic, it has become more important than ever to boost farmers’ income and ensure that farm productivity is at an all-time high. - Nitin Chaudhary, Samunnati

The COVID-19 pandemic has put severe pressure on cash flows of exporters and importers alike. This strain is being felt most by SMBs who have never had easy access to capital. - Pushkar Mukewar, Drip Capital

For medium and small-sized enterprises and startups, the COVID world is going to be a challenging one as they will be staring at cost and staff optimisation puzzles and scrambling for functional business solutions. - Ajayya Kumar, Emircom

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Things drastically changed in the post-pandemic world when selling online became a medium to sustain the business for the long haul. - Vinay Chatlani, Soch Apparels

Post-COVID-19, supply chain resilience and digital transformation is already high on the to-do list for a lot of companies, and programmes that also directly improve the lot of MSMEs need to be put on the top of the list. - Ankur Bhageria, CashFlo

During the pandemic, cloud kitchens exploded across India and we became pioneers for developing simple, profitable, and scalable products for many unicorns. Frozen goods moved from niche to mainstream, and restaurants could preserve food better without compromising its quality. - Dev Lall, Bakers Circle

The blue-collar ecosystem is undergoing massive digital transformation, and the ongoing pandemic has accelerated this adoption. - Pravin Agarwala, BetterPlace

While many SMBs failed to survive amidst the pandemic, many were able to minimise business disruption due to early adoption of technology. - Joseph Varughese

In the new normal of the post-COVID-19 world, product and price alone no longer play the determining role in consumer choices. Instead, their loyalty will lie with brands that can engage them seamlessly and empathetically, while upholding their privacy. - Shivakumar Ganesan, Exotel

During the pandemic, switching from a very high-touch travelling job to suddenly working from home for months was a jolt. - Sandhya Balakrishnan, Brillio

The unprecedented nature of the pandemic and its consequences have made all organisations rethink the relevance of proximity, presence, and physical interactions at the workplace. - Manoj Kalra, DSM

Going forward, for businesses, health and safety will be of utmost priority for customers, delivery partners, and internal teams. - Dipesh Mittal, Shadowfax

The pandemic further motivated people to acquire new skills and revisit their hobbies. Baking was one such sector that witnessed a spike during this time. - Niklesh Sharma, Academy of Pastry Arts

The pandemic will eventually subside but a hyperlocal delivery model will exist as it is the answer to the customer's woes. - Dipesh Mittal, Shadowfax Technologies

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While the pandemic surely took a toll, Indian startups have managed to somehow navigate through it encouragingly. In fact, several new startups and business models scaled during the pandemic. - Sourjyendu Medda, DealShare

While it is critical to revive the economy, the transition to a circular economy is the need of the hour. - Anand Srinivasan, Covestro (India)

The road to recovery is not very far as we are hopefully seeing COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. People are fed up of sitting at home and are looking at getting out of their homes now. - Gaurav Sekhri, Fratelli Wines

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).