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MOHALI, India (Reuters) – Dozens of Reliance Industries’ retail stores and a giant Walmart outlet face revenue losses of millions of dollars after being forced to shut for more than three months over protests against India’s new farm laws, sources said.
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a closed superstore of Reliance Smart, a superstore operated by Reliance Industries Ltd., at Kharar, on the outskirts of Chandigarh, India, January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Manoj Kumar
Thousands of farmers from states including northern Punjab have camped for weeks on the outskirts of the capital, in a bid to force Prime Minister Narendra Modi to repeal the laws they contend will benefit corporates, rather than cultivators.
Fears of farmers’ agitation in Punjab, home to many protest leaders, have stoked companies’ fears over vandalism and the safety of employees, prompting the closure of dozens of shops, store employees and industry sources said.
Since October, more than half the roughly 100 stores of top retailer Reliance Retail in Punjab and Walmart’s 50,000-square-foot (4,645-sq-m) wholesale outlet in the district of Bathinda, a centre of the protests, have been shut, the sources added.
“We are scared of the protesting farmers,” said a senior official of a shuttered Reliance outlet in Mohali, a prosperous city located in the farm belt.
One industry source said estimated losses for Reliance from its state-wide shutdowns run into millions of dollars. Two other sources said Walmart’s estimated revenue loss from its store, one of 29 such outlets nationwide, has crossed $8 million.
“The farmers camp outside the Walmart store daily, they don’t let anybody go in,” said one of the sources, adding that the store employed about 250 people.
Walmart and its Indian unit, Flipkart, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reliance, India’s largest private company, also did not respond.
Both firms can absorb the losses for now, said Ankur Bisen, head of consumer and retail at consultancy Technopak Advisors, but he added, “They have to keep their fingers crossed that shutdowns do not extend to other states.”
For their part, farmer unions have vowed to continue the protests and block stores from opening, even as the Supreme Court this week ordered a temporary suspension of the farm laws as it sets up a panel to examine their complaints.
“Our protests against corporates like Reliance will continue … there is no question of lifting our sit-ins,” said Kulwant Singh Sandhu, an official of one protesting group, the Democratic Farmers’ Union.
