Debt, Despair And Death, How Small Businesses In Kerala Have Been Decimated By COVID, Lockdowns

On July 23, Vijayakumar, a native of Malayinkeezh in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram took his own life, leaving behind a wife suffering from paralysis and their only daughter, a 3rd year LLB student.

He took the extreme step amid mounting debts as he, like most small business owners in Kerala are struggling to survive due to the continuing lockdowns and financial crisis.

Vijayakumar used to ran a sweets shop in the city in a rented building and used to earn a decent living from it.

BCCL/ Representational Image

But the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. From the first lockdown in 2020 when almost all economic activities came to a standstill to the restrictions that are still continuing, it was too much for a small business owner to handle.

Like others, he was forced to close his shop due to the lockdown which began in April and is still continuing. This meant that Vijayakumar lost his only income and on the other hand his debts, from business and personal were mounting. To escape from all these he took his own life.

Not the first case

Just a few days before that it was Vinod, a 53-year-old businessman from Idukki district.

Vinod used to run a sweet and coffee shop in Irumpupalam a small town on the route to the Munnar hill station.

BCCL/ Representational Image

But after the lockdown took away his livelihood, Vinod killed himself, leaving behind a piece of paper with the names of people to who he owed money.

In fact, in the past few weeks, this is a story that Kerala has heard over and over again.

Only the name of the person and place changes, the story remains the same.

The lockdown that is well into its fourth month in Kerala has left the small businesses bleeding and many have reached a point where they can no longer continue even if the restrictions are lifted.

Though the state-wide lockdowns were lifted long back, there are localised restrictions based on the TPR of the area.

BCCL

This, however, is no relief for the thousands of small shop owners, who hardly got to open their establishments.

Too late to revive the business

Arun Joseph is one of them, he runs a cafe aimed at tourists en route to Munnar, in Adimali.

A B.Tech graduate, Arun had quit his tech job in Bengaluru in 2017 to start the cafe in his hometown.

He used his saving and loans to set up the cafe and things were going well even after the floods of 2018.

Since the lockdown last year, his business has dwindled and today he is looking at an uncertain future.

"I have not been able to open the cafe since April. Even if I open, as long as there are no tourists there is no point. Still, I have to pay the rent or face being thrown out. I have to pay the salary of my four staff, who have agreed to take a pay cut knowing well what I am going through. I have not paid the loans for almost the entire 2021, as I don't have the money. Even if tomorrow everything is allowed to open, I fear I won't have enough to do it. I have been trying to sell the cafe, which is do dear to my heart, but no one has the money to buy a loss-making business now," Joseph told Indiatimes.

No more behind the wheels

Rajeevan, who used to drive an autorickshaw in his village has now become a daily wage worker in a cardamom plantation.

"Nobody is stopping me from driving the autorickshaw, but since no one is going to the town, where am I going to find passengers. I tried for a few weeks, but later I realised that no one is going to come. But, I have to feed my family, so I went back to becoming a daily wage worker," Rajeevan said.

BCCL/ Representational Image

While he is happy to have food on his table, there are more things he is worried about - the mounting loans of his auto and the cost of maintaining the vehicle in the monsoons.

"My auto is lying idle at my home in this rainy season. I saw some rust on the body the other day. But what can I do now? I think I will just keep it there until the financier takes its away" he said.

No double bell

Another sector that has been badly hit is the private bus operators in Kerala.

BCCL

Considered the lifeline of Kerala, these colourful buses used to fly the length and breadth of Kerala all these years. But since last year many of them have been abandoned by their owners. Even big, family-owned bus services that had been in the industry for decades have bowed out since 2020.

The bus owners have been left a double blow. Even when they were not allowed to operate, they had to pay the taxes, loans and salaries. And when the buses were allowed to resume many of them were in a poor state and the owners had to spend lakhs to get them in running shape. Even after all these, there are restrictions on the number of passengers they can take.

BCCL

Bus owners say that given the price of fuel and other costs involved, it is not sustainable for them to operate.

Tourism is sinking

The tourism industry in Kerala has also taken a pounding from the 2018 floods and has not recovered since.

And the pandemic just made matters worse.

The story of NK Kurian, a tourism entrepreneur captures it the best. He left his engineering job in the middle-east in 2005 to set up what he calls the first agriculture theme park in India.

mango meadows

Built on an area of 30 acres, Mango Medows has five ponds that sustain 64 species of fish, 4,800 varieties of trees, cottages for tourists.

Kurian had spent Rs 120 crores to create this tourist attraction in his hometown in Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam.

And ever since it was opened to the public in 2018, Mango Medows became an instant hit with visitors.

But then came the massive floods that left some serious damage to the carefully constructed infrastructure.

mango meadows

Even with that Kurian would say Mango Medows was relatively unhurt and made a revenue of Rs 8 crore that grew to Rs 13 crore in the next year.

However, since COVID-19 struck Mango Medows that used to employe around 300 people have remained shut.

Still, Kurian had to pay for the maintenance of the park, which he says is around Rs 7 lakhs a month.

mango meadows

According to him, his Rs 13 crore loan has now swelled to Rs 25 crore, and without government support, the venture can't survive.

Kurian however is optimistic and says that he can turn things around in a couple of months if things go back to normal and tourists start coming.