Small Businesses Struggle To Pay Wages Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Hundreds of thousands of cash-starved Indian small businesses have either deferred or cut their workers’ wages this month, say industrialists and union leaders, amid a 21-day nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

All India Manufacturers Organisation (AIMO)- an industry body representing some 100,000 small manufacturers - said more than two-thirds of its members faced problems in paying salaries on Tuesday, the usual day for paying monthly wages.

"We have no funds to pay wages," said K.E. Raghunathan, former national president of AIMO, who runs a solar parts' manufacturing unit in the Southern Indian city of Chennai.