The two industry associations, the India Cellular and Electronics Association and the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association have jointly done a survey and they are reporting that there are as many as 70,000 refrigerators, 50,000 television sets and over 5 million mobile phones awaiting repairs. The trade body is trying to insist that all three have become essential for people to carry on normal lives under the lockdown conditions, as per a report in the Economic Times.

At one level, the central government is warming up to the idea that the economic fallout of the coronavirus lockdown could be quite insurmountable and is keen to restart the activities which can be carried on without compromising too much on the social distancing and other norms. At the same time, there are pressure groups within the industry trying to bring on their own justifications for relaxing the norms to restart their business activities. One major suggestion has come from the electrical appliances and mobile phones repair bodies. 

With the stay at home orders, people desperately require their refrigerators to be working at full capacity to stock up vegetables etc. Similarly, television is possibly the only pastime many families have. The importance of the mobile phone in a situation like this cannot be overstated.

Besides, there are complaints that about 30,000 air-conditioners and other appliances like microwave ovens and washing machines are not working, which also cannot be attended to during the lockdown period. The brands/manufacturers include LG, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Godrej, Panasonic, Haier, Sony, Apple, Havells, Hitachi, Lava and Micromax.

The associations are now trying to impress upon the government that the opening up of the repair services is critical to ease the difficulties people are facing. It is understood that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has also included these repair services in the list of businesses it recommends be allowed to resume with the stipulations on the safety precautions to be observed while conducting their operations.    

Some of these companies are trying to offer help via telephone and emails but in most cases, the physical presence of a service engineer is essential to resolve the issues. It is learnt that these companies have said there is no major issue of displaced migrant labourers in their case and the technicians can be called back to duty without any difficulty.