Dear
Friends,
I am writing this blog with mixed feelings,
sitting within the closed doors at my home in New Jersey, about 45
miles away from New York City, the epicenter of the Covid-19 in
America, working off of my laptop with great hopes of seeing the
world hop and thrive again! Missing my City life… feeling
terrible watching an empty and inactive Time Square! My family
feels that I am a share holder of Fox News because as I work I always
have the news on.., I love watching President Trump … and his task
force every day keeping all of us appraised of what’s going
on and what may happen. Everyone believes this virus will be
defeated and gone. I too believe this will soon be behind ..
But many still haven’t understood the impact of what this virus
will leave behind for us in terms of the economy. In this blog I will
be concentrating on the impacts of how this virus will
attack the world economies …especially India, and
at the same time remind every business.. small, medium and large to
be very practical and be helpful to all employees. No one created
this crisis… it came by surprise and attacked the rich and the poor
without any discrimination! We were all caught off guard!
I am not a magician nor an expert to predict where the world
economy is heading, forecasting GDP and so on. I have written
in my earlier blogs about forecasts being made by various economists,
predicting about the GDP growth of many nations, including India.
Even four months back I remember some leading firm predicted that
India’s GDP will stay at around 7% growth. Look at it today? I
wonder what was the meaning in making these predictions? This is not
the time to predict, but time to act. I think most of the countries
worldwide are walking into recession. … at this time all I
can say is … be very realistic and act to protect ourselves
and our business.
This invisible enemy has attacked 184 countries. The good news is
that most countries have managed to mitigate this virus following the
simple rules like social-distancing, and staying at home ..and
I see many countries soon returning to normalcy. While I
really appreciate the tremendous job done by the U.S. Government, I
must also applaud the Indian Government for having managed this
pandemic very efficiently, keeping loss of life to the lowest levels.
I live a few miles from the epicenter New York. I have been closely
watching all the actions that the white house and various state
governors have been undertaking in minimizing the damages from this
invisible evil. Everyone has done a great job… we all need to
remember the front line workers .. nurses .. first responders ..
doctors .. police… fire fighters and everyone else who
are risking their own lives for saving the lives of people who got
attacked by this pandemic .
I am confident this enemy will be defeated soon .. and
I am sure you all will agree as well . . Now I want to
draw the attention of all my readers of the impact this
terrible enemy will have on the world economy. There are many
innocent people amidst us .. who haven’t yet understood
what’s in store, Scientists and medical professionals have done
their job well. Now the question is, who are the “scientists”
that can protect and defend mankind from the peril of this
pandemic? THE ULTIMATE THREAT TO GLOBAL ECONOMIES!
Restaurants are closed everywhere, small and medium
businesses on the verge of collapse, unemployment rising ….
America has crossed 16 million in unemployment just last week.
Very scary! At this time no preaching will help, nor the comforting
messages being published by billionaires and philosophers. They
all are well found and it’s very easy to write messages that
will comfort people … the fact of the matter is… there are many
out there who can’t solve their problems without money… and no
rich man is out there waiting to solve the pains of
millions! Who is going to solve the pain of the common man?
This pain cannot be solved with a band aid like economic
solution. It needs a well-choreographed plan that can be
executed and implemented. For this we need brave and
courageous leaders and not just economists. I have faith in the
leaders of the nations I am writing about in this blog .. USA
and INDIA . look at our exports? Look at our domestic
trades? Look at the lucrative UAE economy where millions
of Indians depend upon?
Today .. Everyone from
children to adults are forced to stay at home,
because we have to collectedly fight this enemy…. There is no other
way ! … but do you all realize what will be the outcome of
this sit at home?? for some it could be fun .. I must say they must
be the unfortunate ones who could be belonging to the group of
the most innocent and not being aware the long term
consequences.
In America I too own and run a business. To
support the economy the federal Government has come out
with various stimulus plans and announced strong economic
incentives to help the people. One amongst the various
stimulus is the one that benefit small and medium businesses
known as “PPP” (Payroll Protection Plan). This means the U.S
Government will reimburse salaries and the fixed expense of a
business for 8 weeks, as long as they retain their employees on their
pay roll… WOW!! This will incentivize business owners
to keep employees in their jobs and soon after the economy
opens up, one could be back in business .. can you imagine losing
your trained employees or them disappearing when the virus is gone ?
it will be very difficult to retrain and get back to where you left
it when you were forced to shut doors.
I am also proud to
write that my organization in the U.S also employees more than 100
people in our production facility and offices. I am quite happy to
write to all of you that so far I haven’t laid off a single
employee or even threatened to disturb the fabric of their life. I am
very confident that I will be in a position to continue to do as I am
confident of getting the necessary support from the U.S. Government
and to work smart and hard to protect my employees including the
beloved ones I have employed in India. Close to 1500 works for my
company in India . and I will stand by them .. They are my assets .
They are the reason for what I am today .. they worked hard for my
company and I have more than moral responsibility to support them in
these difficult times …
This morning I was shocked to
see an article published in the Times of India about a major IT
company, one of the top companies in India. I feel very sad and
upset .. for the employees who worked so hard for this company and
contributed to the unbelievable profits this company made during the
past several years. I highly respect the CEO who heads this
company… a great organization having contributed to the Indian
economy . but it’s very painful to read about the
actions they are planning to take in order mitigate the
temporary dip they anticipate to their bottom line ? look at
the action they are planning ? My dear friends, you can draw
your own inference from this. I am heading the
Choice Group and have around 1500 employees. We haven’t
made profits to the decimal factor of what this IT Company has made but I am
proud to say that my employees so far have been paid on the due date
and I have never put any fear into their minds about being fired or
“downsized”. On the contrary I am in touch with them on a
weekly basis .. promising them hope! We business people
have huge responsibility to protect our employees ..I
appeal to all the business houses not to hurt employees during
this transition to an unknown future … after the covid goes
away !
I must appeal to all large organizations in my
country “India” who owns large reserves and surplus to
protect their employees at this difficult time. Give them the
confidence that we employers will “stand by them” like I am
“standing by my employees” . We all have to understand the
responsibility of a true and honest business man or business house
and don’t fear .. . Protect the employees, keep them safe and happy
and make sure that their homes will have no reason to shed tears.
Let’s stand with them. I suddenly thought about the great
song “Stand by me”. For those who have the time, please click on
the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqB8Dm65X18&list=PLir_7uE-qn_vISyy78QvqC1YDI4PbD2gf and you will understand the true meaning of the song.
I
want to sign off by wishing everyone the very best and hope we see
better days soon!!