Time to Reboot, Reinvent and Reignite for better Life beyond CORONA

Its almost two months, we all are talking about CORONA and it’s consequences (including economic situation). Yes, currently everyone’s priority is to fight & win over Covid-19 but surely in the background we have to prepare for the expected slowdown and the impact it will have on Corporate (large / middle / SME / Small), Individuals (and respective families’), Income (includes salaried class JOB) and living standards. I strongly feel that One thing is clear: even once we’re through this crisis, we can’t go back to business as usual. No-one can surmount this crisis. So like various emergencies, it has to be a common purpose, collectivism and social partnership that needs to be stepped up and fight back the IMPACT.

Right now everyone wants to return back to normalcy, the reality is that many things have changed for ever (may be for good). We know the years ahead won’t be easy. After this immediate crisis is done, we need to remember what (and who) worked during this crisis and use it to bring in a new era of sharing power, responsibility and wealth. After all, in the aftermath of the pandemic, we still need to tackle many challenges which might have not been planned (or even thought off). We can’t have a scenario where Corporate (Large / Enterprise / Medium / SME / Small) will be bouncing back in few quarters but individuals had paid the price.

Let's first discuss what's the impact of Lockdown on individuals (at large) :

Everyone will be revisiting short-term & long-term spending. 

Everyone will self-assess respective's current and future liabilities (EMIs).

Massive cut expected in the spending on lifestyle expenditure & Luxury.

Spending of unwarranted expenses will also see a visible drop (this includes like malls, restaurants, Movies, IPL/like events, etc).

More awareness related to cleanliness & fitness, avoiding any sort of wastage.

Self-learning - Re-learning - New-learning - More focus on Reading & Personal developments.

More bonding with families and siblings/cousins.

Future Investments - One incident has trimmed the valuation of year's investments to 40-50% so massive reallocation is expected.

We all as individuals will require to contribute HUGE so that INDIA is back on road of recovery & rebuilding. Government will also require to take major tough steps, I personally feel that political packages are not going to help.

Few thoughts on what Government should consider as Action Plan Post COVID19

For Political Outfits/Parties

No Strikes/Rallies/Bandh across country till 31Dec by any Party/Unions (use this opportunity to kill unwarranted blackmailing of regional & local small UNIONS)

No political rallies & elections till 31Dec (so that those fund can be used elsewhere)

No disturbance of Parliament & Assemblies (it's time for MP-MLAs to lead from front & set the example).

Individuals

No Foreign Holidays (family trips) in 2020 (extra cess to be applicable in IT Return).

Extra Tax benefit in LTA for 10+ days of Holidays in India (covering min 2 states).

To bring back money into economy increase eligibility amounts in NPS & 80xxx to 2L & 5L for 20-21.

Focus on savings & rebuilding Assets.

Religion

All Religious places to be closed till 31Dec (so people can focus on work)

No religious gathering or procession and spending should be allowed till 31Dec

We must consider to Cancel all religious holidays (only 15Aug as exception)

Social Media

Twitter & TikTok should be blocked till 31Dec.

FB - NO Closed Groups allowed.

Whatsapp Groups – Put some limit to messages in a day. Around 5/member/day (ie 500 in total for a group having 100 members) and each number can have max 10 groups.

Society in general

No Big FAT Indian wedding and Strictly – NO Foreign destination weddings.

Strictly – No community lunch/dinner during any death (only 1-2 prayer meetings).

Change in Mindset – Purchase more-more products from MakeInIndia.

Others

Time to revisit the Advantage of Corporate TAX (announced last year).

12 hours shifts: Explore possibility of 24x7 work at various factories/sites in multiple shifts.

Any Agricultural income (more than 1 Cr) should be taxable. How can THOUSANDS farmers commit suicide while few earns in Billions).

To help government in bouncing back, let's consider for Mandatory 7 days a week (or atleast 6.5 days) till 31MAR2021.

Courts to work all days (no summer holidays – millions of cases pending, good chance to speed up the processes).

All colleges & schools operate as 7 Days a week till 31March2021 (No holidays / elections / student unions showoffs etc).

For Corporates (Large-Mid-SME-Small)

At the end of this crises, there's a better tommorow for sure and the winner will be who preferred to invest on employees (rather than salary / bonus cuts etc).

Massive investments on Technology enhancements on cards (both for internal & external customers) typically on InfoSec & Data Privacy. Time to revisit on-premises Data centers.

Customers / Partners / Vendors / Suppliers / Distributors etc who were helpful will become privileged on for LIFETIME.

Focus would be to improve all processes & policies. Its time to prepare Lesson Learnt document and implement the gaps to ensure to take an edge with the competitors.

Post WFH scenario, the biggest question for many employers would be “Do we really need Permanent Employees ?”

To close the blog my takeaway is that we should use this period to think for some new ideas and innovations; and take advantage of this opportunity "to have bigger dreams and ambitions about once the crisis has passed". 

WE all know its tough time ahead and everyone should look beyond making MONEY, its high time we take SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY as an OWNERSHIP.

Let’s join our hands together to build a new INDIA where we all (rich/poors/middle-class) can get FAIR SHARE and provide a GOOD LIFE to themselves & respective families. For sure there’s a better LIFE is beyond this CRISIS.

Dr Mukesh Mehta
Entrepreneurial CIO| CDO | Digital Transformer