India's Maharashtra state shuts most manufacturing, restricts e-commerce

India 's richest state of Maharashtra will impose tough curbs on industry and e-commerce for 15 days to slow rising coronavirus infections , the government said on Tuesday, a move that will cripple manufacturing and other businesses in the region , including e-commerce .

Maharashtra , home to India's financial capital Mumbai , has become India's worst-hit state due to the coronavirus , accounting for about a quarter of India's 13.5 million cases. On Tuesday alone, Maharashtra reported 60,212 new confirmed cases.

Image source: Reuters

Uddhav Tekre, the 19th and current Chief Minister of Maharashtra , ordered that all factories /industries in the state must stop their operations, except for some export-oriented units and factories producing items required for basic services . This also means that most of the manufacturing industry in Maharashtra, India has been shut down .

In addition to this, the state announced that " no one should move in public places without a valid reason " and most business premises and public places in the state will be closed except for those deemed essential, such as grocery stores, hospitals, banks and stock exchanges .

In addition to restricting offline commerce, online commerce has also been severely restricted! The Maharashtra government said that e-commerce deliveries are allowed, but only for essential products . This decision will directly affect the delivery and online ordering businesses of e -commerce giants such as Amazon and Flipkart .

In this regard, Uddhav Tekre said : "Livelihoods are important, but lives are more important , so we need to increase the existing restrictions. "

Image source: Reuters

Maharashtra state already shut restaurants, bars, gyms, theatres and non-essential shops last week, a move some industry groups warned would cost billions of dollars in economic losses.

According to Indian media estimates, these restrictions will severely stimulate businesses in Maharashtra and are likely to have a wider impact on the Indian economy. As India's richest region, the state accounts for nearly 15% of India's gross domestic product ( GDP) and is crucial to India's economic recovery after months of slowdown.

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