Coronavirus outbreak is expected to negatively impact the consumer demand and affect the Indian gems and jewellery industry, a report said. The seriousness of the situation can be made out of the fact that the two jewelry trade fairs hosted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council have already been rescheduled to May from March 2020, according to Dun & Bradstreet data. In diamond cutting and publishing sectors, India is the largest centre globally. While Hong Kong is the largest export market for India with a 38 per cent share, China Mainland accounts for another 1 per cent.
Even as the Coronavirus outbreak is having a considerable impact on the Chinese economy, the other economies in the region, too, are facing increasing implications, the same report also said. Nearly 90 per cent of all running businesses in China are located in the most impacted regions, according to Dun & Bradstreet data. “There’s a slowdown in the Chinese business activity in the manufacturing and some services sectors during late January on account of the Lunar New Year holidays. This is factored into the inventory planning by Global businesses, hence the impact on them has so far been muted”, Dun & Bradstreet data showed. The extent of the impact of coronavirus on businesses worldwide will depend on how soon it is contained, it added. Coronavirus comes at a time when both the Indian and the global economy are facing a slowdown for some time now. The Indian economy is expected to grow at just 5 per cent in FY20, according to the first GDP advance estimates released by the government.
It was on January 30, 2020, that the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Coronavirus for the first time as a health emergency. More than 2000 people have lost lives so far after getting affected with the deadly Coronavirus.