Chennai: The retail sector has started seeing the effect of omicron, with growth slowing down in December, especially at the fag-end of the month. Retailers are worried about January sales.
Retail sales grew 7 per cent in December compared to the same month in 2019.
In November the growth was higher at 9 per cent and in the festive month of October it hit double-digit at 14 per cent.
According to Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India, omicron started playing the spoilsport in the last week of December and dragged down much of the growth seen in the first three weeks of the month.
“Retail business was on a steady growth trajectory during most of December, however, the pace of growth was seen dropping off significantly towards the last week of December due to the fresh sets of curbs,” he said.
