This research will deal with the effects of the lockdowns caused by the COVID-19[1] pandemic in small retail businesses. It has been conducted to further analyse the modern systems approach towards business management. The perspective in the research will be from both the consumer and the retailer point of view regarding all the problems faced in the business as a retailer and problems with gathering goods when the supply chain was disrupted. The other problems will be discussed in detail and the after effects will be stated according to the observations after the lockdown was finally over.

This research has to be conducted to analyse the problems being faced by the retailers to further observe changes in business management, to deeply analyse why the supply chain got disrupted and how it led to shortage of goods being available in the shop because this is a recent phenomenon and a very interesting topic as businesses are still going through the crisis.

It has been conducted with observation in small businesses as a consumer during the lockdown and asking small business owners about the problems being faced by them while also reviewing relevant news articles related to the problems in these businesses and reviewing the relief measures introduced by government and identifying their usefulness.

Mode Of Citation:
Mode of citation shall be OSCOLA (4th edition 2012), with certain modifications. The following explains the style of citation:

• Newspapers: Name of the Author(s), Title of the article, Name of the newspaper (City, Date), accessed

News Articles:

1. Amit Kapoor, Sampriti Mukherjee and Jatin Nair in "How have Indian businesses been impacted during and after the lockdown?"[2] observed that in just nine short months of this pandemic, the world had changed drastically with hospital systems, vaccines and facemasks becoming the essentials of our lives. This has impacted Indian businesses with consequences of poor consumer demand, lockdown restrictions and supply fluctuations. They concluded that these micro aspects still continue to affect the business community.
   
   Business owners now have changed opinions that the consumer spending has changed to spending only on essentials. They also suggested that government must use this crisis to ensure trust in local businesses. Incremental changes are necessary for improving the regulatory structure, increasing data access and giving a second thought to the industrial cluster system to adapt according to global standards.
   
   This particular piece of literature states information only up to a span of nine months, anything happening after nine months into the pandemic has not been discussed and researched up on. It is unknown how the most recent variant of the virus might affect the business and Research regarding accessibility of people to online businesses has not been conducted[3].
    
2. Mr. Amol Verma in "The Transparency Conundrum surrounding the PM CARES Fund: A Critique"[4] has observed that the PM Cares Fund which was created on 27th March with Prime minister as the ex-officio chairman of the trust and created to provide relief measures during emergency situations and distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic, is facing strong criticism regarding transparency of its details and accounts. This arose when the PMO rejected to declare PM Cares Fund as 'Public Authority' within the RTI Act.
   
   This was seen as government secrecy because the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has the authority of auditing the PM Cares Fund if the trustees of the fund ask him to, but it was found out that the CAG has been kept out of reach of PM Cares Fund and it can be audited by more qualified independent auditors who would be appointed by the trustees of the fund. The author concluded that PM Cares Fund is facing this kind of criticism because the government is denying any information and accounts related to its use and is raising serious questions questioning its transparency. He suggested that all the related information about PM Cares Fund should be released into the public domain to stop any further criticism.
   
   This piece of literature has not mentioned exactly how the CAG has been kept out of reach of the Fund's auditing and has not specified any other related criticism regarding the fund and its usefulness.
    
3. Nikunj Ohri in "Govt mulls more relief measures for businesses amid second wave"[5] has talked about considerations of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Government of India and that they are looking into the demands made by small businesses to provide some relief to them amid the pandemic. They are considering steps to tackle the situation as well as discussing some other steps to tackle the situation. The government recently announced some steps like extending timelines for certain tax compliances and providing 50-year interest-free loans to states to spur capital expenditure as well as relaxation in payment of GST.

This piece of literature provides information about the business problems and the relief measures introduced as well as considered, but does not focus on how useful the measures actually are for the businesses and possible new measures to further increase the relief for businesses.

Statement Of Problems
Despite all the relief measures introduced by government for small businesses to cope up with the crisis, it is still unknown how useful they actually are for the businesses as they continue to demand for more relief from government[6]. It is also unknown about how long these methods will persist for because the pandemic keeps continuing with newer variants of the virus and many more lockdowns are probably underway and the severity of the variant might affect the businesses differently from the previous variants and it could be possible that the current safety measures will be inadequate in near future.

The main problems which were being faced by local businesses were reduced cash flows, supply chain disruption directly from manufacturing sector, new safety protocols to be followed because of the pandemic and many other operational and financial challenges. Many business projects were either delayed or cancelled which is a big concern especially in reference to how much a project affects small businesses. There was a demand cut from luxury goods from consumer side as the consumer mentality had shifted to spending only on essentials.

Hypothesis: The increase in COVID cases has led to an increase in operational difficulties in businesses. Research Questions: The following research questions arise from the above hypothesis:

• How have the COVID cases affected the businesses?
• What main difficulties did the businesses face?
• How did the businesses adapt and manage the crisis?
• Were government relief measures useful for the businesses? If so, up to what extent?
• What could be the possible after effects once the pandemic is finally over?

Objectives
This research will try to bring awareness to the issues that businesses are facing today. National GDP depends on businesses and to maintain a financially stable economy in the country. This will help other businesses adapt according to how competing businesses did by using special strategies during this pandemic as well as avoid any losses by investing properly.

Scope
The scope of the research is limited to small business sector only, it includes small retail shops, street vendors as well as personal care salons. International businesses, businesses operating outside of India and businesses which have their own logo and trademark are not included.

Research Methodology
This study is doctrinal in nature. Personal observations and informal interviews were used to identify losses and operational problems being faced by small businesses. News articles and reports related to business problems were also examined to get a much better view on the topic and to confirm the observations from different perspectives.

Tentative Chaptalization
Following is a detailed chaptalization of research topic to give answers to the research questions that arose from the hypothesis:

1. Chapter I (The Effects Of The Pandemic): This chapter will try to answer how the COVID cases have affected the businesses.
   In such a diverse situation with changing trends and practices, the business must adapt to the changes around them, be it a change in government policy, scarcity of a certain essential, environmental factors or any natural disaster or a global pandemic. The world has changed dramatically where vaccines and masks have become an important safety aspect of our lives.
   
   During the pandemic, certain rules were to be followed by retailers regarding safety and hygiene. Masks were to be worn by everyone and foot-press sanitizer dispensers were to be installed outside retail shops for safety. Shops which followed these rules attracted customers which also meant managing the customers in a shop to maintain social distancing, for which shops marked spots to stand on for the customers to maintain an appropriate distance from other customers.
    
2. Chapter II (Business Problems): This chapter will state the main difficulties which the businesses faced during the crisis.
   Businesses faced a very big drawback like low consumer demand, supply fluctuations and lockdown restrictions while also keeping their employees safe from the disease. According to a survey conducted after government relief measures, during the lockdown, businesses experienced approximately 71.31% of reduced cash flows[7] while the manufacturing sector being the worst hit.
   
   Delay and cancellation of projects also affected businesses including the tertiary sector, particularly retail, education and financial services these challenges have made the businesses actually adapt to the situation and improve their long-term plans and have shifted away from short-term cost-cutting strategies to plan ahead. Businesses are now thinking long term by cutting down on operational costs and switching to low-cost raw material sources.
    
3. Chapter III (Businesses Adaptation): This chapter will explain how the businesses adapted and managed the crisis.
   When Covishield and Covaxin vaccines for COVID were approved for use in India, some retailers took the vaccine and made customers aware that they are vaccinated with the help of certificates. Some retailers also started offering home delivery services for the customers during the lockdown which is a very nice approach towards carrying out business normally. The retailers exchanged numbers with the customers and the list was given in SMS to the retailer from the consumer which was then delivered by the retailer in a few days.
   
   This was done while following full safety protocol by deliverymen who were vaccinated and followed full covid protocols which included wearing gloves and mask while keeping appropriate distance. The businesses also earned additional income from delivery charges.
    
4. Chapter IV (Government Relief Measures): This chapter will deal with the different government relief measures and their usefulness.
   Government of India and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are looking into demands made by MSMEs, industries and exploring if new form of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) or MSME restructuring scheme extension needed. Measures needed as stress building up in several sectors. Relief measures may not be announced immediately.
   
   But few relief measures are introduced such as: extending timelines for certain tax compliances and providing 50-year interest-free loans to states to spur capital expenditure as well as relaxation in payment of However the GST. The usefulness of PM Cares Fund and these relief measures could not be determined since information is lacking directly from government side.
    
5. Chapter V (Conclusion and Aftermath): This chapter will state the possible after effects of the pandemic and conclude the research.
   At the end of the lockdowns, it was observed that many businesses did adapt to the changes around them, they also showed creativity in maintaining the smooth conduct of business as well as trying some innovative ideas to work around the problems that arose during this time.
   
   Some businesses adapted slowly where the business plans were of short-term with unfavourable consumer demands and some adapted very fast which include medical shops and hospitals, but this was because they supplied consumer essentials during the lockdown. The effects of the lockdown will slowly go away but the lives lost during this time and how the world was changed for the better or for the worse slowly during the pandemic will still be in our memories with us forever.

Bibliography
Online Sources

1. Nistula Hebbar, 'PM Modi announces 21-day lockdown as COVID-19 toll touches 12', The Hindu, (New Delhi, 24th March 2020, 23:14 IST)
2. Amit Kapoor, Sampriti Mukherjee and Jatin Nair, 'How have Indian businesses been impacted during and after the lockdown?', Economic Times (New Delhi, 29th September 2020, 3:11 PM IST)
3. Mr. Amol Verma, "The Transparency Conundrum surrounding the PM CARES Fund: A Critique", Criminal and Constitutional Law Blog, WordPress (7th August 2020, 00:28 IST)
4. Nikunj Ohri, "Govt mulls more Covid relief measures for businesses amid second wave", Business Standard (New Delhi, 3rd May 2021, 00:28 IST)

References:

1. Nistula Hebbar, 'PM Modi announces 21-day lockdown as COVID-19 toll touches 12', The Hindu, (New Delhi, 24th March 2020, 23:14 IST) accessed.
2. Amit Kapoor, Sampriti Mukherjee and Jatin Nair, 'How have Indian businesses been impacted during and after the lockdown?', Economic Times (New Delhi, 29th September 2020, 3:11 PM IST) accessed.
3. Research regarding "Consumer base for online businesses" was not found in Google Scholar, therefore this is a gap in research work.
4. Mr. Amol Verma, "The Transparency Conundrum surrounding the PM CARES Fund: A Critique", Criminal and Constitutional Law Blog, WordPress (CNLU, Patna, 7th August 2020, 00:28 IST) accessed for reference.
5. Nikunj Ohri, "Govt mulls more Covid relief measures for businesses amid second wave", Business Standard (New Delhi, 3rd May 2021, 00:28 IST) accessed for reference.
6. Ibid.
7. Amit Kapoor, Sampriti Mukherjee and Jatin Nair, 'How have Indian businesses been impacted during and after the lockdown?', Economic Times (New Delhi, 29th September 2020, 3:11 PM IST) accessed.