Partners in J&K lose Rs 15 crore in 2 months

The two month-long agitation over the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti land in J&K has finally come to an end with businesses resuming their normal routine. Partners in the valley have started calculating the losses suffered by them during the entire period. The closing day saw the partner community wearing a long face, as for a few the losses accounted for over Rs 80 lakh. Amidst a mixed feeling of victory and huge commercial losses, partners are positive that business will regain its normal pace in another 15 to 20 days.

After a complete shutdown of business for almost 60 days and zero percent sale, the biggest challenge among the channel community is to make payments to vendors for the stock taken from them. Rakesh Gupta of Source Peripherals, Jammu informed, “Our average sales during the month of July and August was Rs 40 lakh each month, and as a result of the complete shutdown in the entire region our losses stood at Rs 80 lakh for the period.”

Apart from the loss due to zero sales, resellers in the region are also required to meet their regular commercial expenses which include the staff salary, rental payments, etc, and they have to meet these expenses from their pockets. Gupta said, “We have 15 employees and we have to pay them salary even though there was no activity at the stores. The salary alone stands at around Rs 28,000 per month, and then we have to pay rent for the premise also, which is again something that cannot be delayed or pushed ahead.”

In the absence of any banking facility available in the region partners' payments to vendors has been pending for long. As banks have resumed operations at their branches in the two cities, channel partners have started drawing cheques, overdrafts, etc in favor of their respective vendors.

For Sanjay Langer of AGM Sales Corporation, Jammu, the losses stood at a shocking Rs 2.5 to 3 crore from sales alone. “Apart from this, we have calculated an amount close to Rs 1 lakh for bank interest against the delay in payments and Rs 2 lakh for the employee salaries.”

Langer added that Jammu Computer Dealers Association would be holding an association meeting to discuss the future road map and to evaluate the total loss faced by the industry in the region. “As of now, the total loss in IT retail business is estimated to be approximately Rs 12 to 15 crore across J&K,” Langer shared.

Mukesh Choudhary, DGM-Sales (North 2), Ingram Micro averred that the IT reselling industry in the region has seen a 100 percent loss owing to absolute shutdown of business.

Hetal Shah of Redington India said that the payments were not being released earlier. Now that the banks are operational the transactions have started taking place on a larger scale. “The billing that was supposed to have been done in the last two months is being done now. We hope that things will return to normal in another 15 to 20 days,” he added.

According to Virok Talwar of Morex Computers, Jammu, “In the last two months of the complete closing of business in Jammu, we have faced a loss of approximately Rs 5 lakh which includes staff salaries, rents, etc, besides the loss out of sales.

Gupta added that he still has HP Compaq stocks of Rs 30 to 35 lakh and he has to make payments for the same despite having nil purchase from customers. “Above all, some distributors are very rigid about the payments so we have started submitting cheques at the banks on the first day of the resumption of baking services. If the cheque bounces, we will face other penalties and fines,” he said.
While locals are flooding grocery stores and other commodity shops for their long pending requirements, partners are being patient and optimist that they too will soon have a beeline of customers outside their stores.