Industry better prepared to deal with lockdowns, says ITC chairman

New Delhi: ITC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri on Monday said the industry is better prepared this time to deal with lockdown kind of situations amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Speaking at an event organised by AIMA, Puri also said there is a need to strike a balance between lives and livelihood.

"We are better prepared to deal with our supply chains. Our vendors and ecosystem is better prepared and inventories have been built up in anticipation of potential disruptions," he said.

The company's innovation team, which has rolled out new products after the pandemic, is working in the same way as it had done earlier, he added.

Terming the present situation as "difficult and challenging", Puri said there are many people in the informal sectors and small and medium enterprises who gets disproportionately impacted. "It's also globally said that another 200 million people would be added to unemployment kitty, he said.

Puri suggested that the authorities should identify hotspot zones and focus on those instead of imposing lockdowns. No doubt that this surge is very concerning but...we have to balance between lives and livelihood, he said.

However, he added that if the situation demands a lockdown, then the industry is geared to deal with that.

According to Puri, through this crisis, several lessons has been learnt, including digital and sustainability, which are now the defining trends.