Covid-19: Restaurants revenue to fall by 50% this fiscal

India’s organised dine-in restaurants are on course for a 40-50 per cent fall in revenue this fiscal because of the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, says credit research firm Crisil.

The outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic has led to outlet closures, job cuts and trickle-down effect on the food supply chain.

Organised restaurants account for nearly 35 per cent of India’s restaurant industry, estimated at Rs 4.2 lakh crore in fiscal 2019. Dine-ins are 75 per cent of the organised restaurants, with online delivery/takeaways making up for the rest.

Dine-ins and public entertainment venues in Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) and Bengaluru have been shut since March 13-14, 2020, before the government announced the first lockdown on March 25. Online delivery is available in select cities such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and Bhubaneshwar, and that, too, at low service levels.

“The organised sector has seen a 90 per cent reduction in sales since the lockdown. Dine-in is not operational and online orders have declined 50-70 per cent. And when the lockdown is lifted, the rebound is expected to be only gradual. This holds especially for Mumbai and Delhi NCR, which make up nearly half of the organised restaurant industry in India, but are red zones accounting for over 30 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in India,” said Rahul Prithiani, Director, Crisil Research.