‘Small sellers who experienced convenience of e-commerce selling unlikely to ignore this channel ahead’

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Amongst the many disruptive trends that emerged due to the pandemic, one of the most prominent has been reverse migration. During the first spike in Covid-19 cases in 2020, an unprecedented 1.14 crore migrant workers from cities moved back to their villages. During the second wave of the epidemic, a repeat of the reverse-migration phenomenon played out, though with relatively less intensity. Delhi’s transport department reported that 8.07 lakh migrant workers from Delhi moved to their neighbouring home states in barely a month since April 21. The Indian Railways stepped up its operations to accommodate these migrants from cities like Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Delhi.

The migrants were predominantly daily wage earners and people who contributed to the informal sector in the urban areas. However, due to remote working and online teaching, many young professionals and students, who had moved to the cities to pursue their careers or education, also moved back to their hometowns.