Budget 2021: For small businesses, uncertainty is the new normal

When the COVID19 pandemic choked peoplersquos sources of income last year scores headed for their hometown Most have returned but itrsquos no longer business as usual Earnings have plunged not only for such people but also for city residents running established businesses for years On the eve of the Union Budget midday speaks to Mumbaikars from various walks of lifelsquoRemove surcharges on movie ticketsrsquoPappu LekhrajPappu Lekhraj who supplies junior artistes for bigbudget films said ldquoAs income has been minuscule over the past year and we have had to pay daily wagers taxes should be waived for the industry at large Though theatres will be operating at 100 per cent occupancy we need to give people the impetus to walk in The surcharges on movie tickets should be removed to encourage people to go to theatres We invest in daily wagers who are paid regularly because their amounts are small and they donrsquot work on a project for more than 1012 days a month We pay 2 per cent TDS but an additional 30 per cent tax on profits Our payments come after 90 days but our GST payments have to go out every month Wersquove barely made any money the past year Junior artistes and daily wagers donrsquot come under the purview of tax returns because they barely make Rs 15000 per monthrdquolsquoExpecting IT reliefrsquoSaalim KhanThirtyyearold Saalim Khan a resident of Lokhandwala Complex Andheri West runs a laundry White Magic in the market He said ldquoBefore the lockdown was announced we would make anywhere between R70000R80000 per month but the earnings have gone down to R30000R40000 We have had to cut down on expenses related to cleaning and chaipaani We usually buy two cycles every year for delivery of clothes but last year we couldnrsquot even afford one As of now we are functioning with just four staff membersrdquo Khan added ldquoAs a small businessman I expect some income tax relief or monetary relief as we suffered losses in the past one year The GST and other taxes are very high There needs to be some GST relief so that we can save moneyrdquolsquoCustomers scared iron own clothesrsquoVijay Kanojia L runs his laundry from a oneroom flat that is also home to his family of six PicSatej ShindeOriginally from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh Vijay Kanojia along with an uncle runs a laundry service from a oneroom flat in a bylane of Versova village Over the past 10 years his monthly income had slowly risen to Rs 20000 to Rs 25000 providing subsistence to his family of six including two children His biggest chunk of expenses was the R10000 rent for the flat that is also his home in the city Business came to a grinding halt after the Coronavirus brought along a crippling nationwide lockdown Kanojia said he had a decent base of customers but none came to his shop ldquoManaging the monthly expenses with zero income was not possible We somehow arranged for a vehicle and left for our village I was confident my brothers would help us during the crisis and we wonrsquot go hungry thererdquo he told midday After the lockdown was relaxed Kanojia returned to Mumbai in October only to be overwhelmed by a new kind of uncertainty ldquoEven after resuming the laundry service I barely earn enough to eke out a living A lot of my customers are still scared of the virus and they prefer ironing their clothes by themselvesrdquo Today Kanojia earns less than half of what he used to make a year ago ldquoThe government should help people with small businesses Rent apart I also have to take care of the power bill food and school fees will get added to it soon Millions like me have suffered during the pandemic and hope the Budget will bring in some cheers for usrdquo10000Kanojiarsquos monthly income postlockdownlsquoFacing neverbefore tests need flat fair GST rate to facilitate bizrsquoHaresh Hathiramani at his shop Khazana Boutique at Colaba CausewayHaresh Hathiramani entrepreneurowner of garment retail boutique called Khazana on the Colaba Causeway so replete with retail that it is dubbed as Causeway shopping mdash claimed ldquoI have never before experienced challenges of this magnitude in my 37 years at this store I took over from my dad who started Khazana Boutique the garment outlet in 1947rdquo The Causewayrsquos big spenders the tourists which were the boulevardrsquos lifeblood have dried up This means said Hathiramani ldquoLocals at shops are driving such hard bargains that it is insulting They are milking the situation They offer R500 for a Rs 2000 outfitrdquo Hathiramani 55 added ldquoI am working as hard physically as I was at 19 years old My staff of three migrated in the lockdown and stayed in their hometowns At home it has been goodbye to eating out at restaurants that we used to do occasionallyrdquo said Hathiramani ldquoOr putting off some buy like expensive shoes perhaps It is about keeping finances for seniors if needed for medical expensesrdquo The Khazana boutique owner summed up ldquolsquoMake in Indiarsquo is hurting because production costs are skyrocketing The budget needs to factor in too that Goods and Services Tax GST if the product is below Rs 1000 fetches five per cent and if it is above Rs 1000 it is 12 per cent We need one flat reasonable rate to help facilitate businessrdquolsquoCost of raw material rising improvement in income unlikelyrsquoIn his three decades of running a snack centre at Seven Bungalows Babaji Pachkale had never imagined he would be forced lock his shop and move to his native Ratnagiri He lives in a joint family with wife Ranjana and son Hitendra at a chawl in the vicinity The other members also work at his shop and depend on it for survival ldquoAll of us went to our hometown on the second day of the lockdown as it didnrsquot make any sense staying in Mumbai without the business We came back after Ganpati and reopened the shop but the business is crawling With the rising cost of raw material it is unlikely there will be any improvement in income anytime soonrdquo he told midday Hitendra said they used to earn between Rs 35000 and Rs 40000 before the Coronavirus outbreak ldquoAs we didnrsquot have any source of income in the village we ended up spending close to Rs 1 lakh during our stay there for five to six months After we exhausted our savings we had to returnrdquo The income has become half said Hitendra and added ldquoInflation is a huge concern as everything has become expensive The number of customers have gone down as people avoid eating outside I am apprehensive about the fate of people like us Only the government can give a ray of hope by bringing in some packages to improve the situationrdquo40000Pachkalersquos earning before the outbreak Mohar Basu Gaurav Sarkar Ranjeet Jadhav Hemal Ashar