An Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on Indian Foreign Trade

International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 7, July 2020, pp. 753-763, Article ID: IJM_11_07_065 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=7 ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.7.2020.065

AN IMPACT ANALYSIS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC CRISIS ON INDIAN FOREIGN TRADE

Pritom Sutradhar Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

Kritika Agarwal Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

Kumud Ch. Goswami Professor, Department of Commerce, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

ABSTRACT Foreign trade plays a very important role in the economy of India. India import and export large number of products and services with many countries all over the world. As it has been seen that COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global economy severely and as such global trade. So, an attempt has been made to study the impact of COVID-19 on foreign trade of India. The study is made to know the trend of India’s foreign trade during and before the pandemic and also to make a comparison on the growth of foreign trade with corresponding period of the preceding year. The nature of the study is descriptive and analytical. The data have been collected from secondary sources on foreign trade from government websites and analysed with the help of graphs and tables prepared in Microsoft Excel. The study revealed that the pandemic has negative impact on India’s foreign trade. Massive contraction has been seen in the export and import specially in the month of April. But during this crisis India earns surplus trade balance for the first time after liberalisation. This surplus is observed due to decline in import rather than escalation in export. Key words: Foreign Trade, COVID-19, Import, Export, Economy Cite this Article: Pritom Sutradhar, Kritika Agarwal and Kumud Ch. Goswami, An Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on Indian Foreign Trade, International Journal of Management, 11(7), 2020, pp. 753-763. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=7

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1. INTRODUCTION COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the entire world and currently it is the biggest threat to human life. By the end of June,2020,212 countries and territories have been affected by this pandemic and more than 10 million Covid-19 cases have been reported around the world and more than 0.5 million people have lost their life (Worldometer, 2020). This pandemic crisis has severe impact on the countries across the world both economically and socially. To stop the spread of the disease and to flatten the curve of reported positive cases, many countries have announced lockdown and imposed social distancing norms as a precautionary measure. This pandemic is unprecedented as the world has never faced such before. Even if we compare the present crisis with previous global crisis like the great depression, 1929 or the global financial crisis 2008, there has been seen a vast dissimilarity. In the earlier crisis, only a few economic activities were contrasted or affected but this pandemic resulted in a complete shutdown of economic activities and disrupted global connectivity. The economic and social disruption brought by COVID-19 have impacted on production and consequently global trade which resulted in economic slowdown of the world. As per the World Bank Group (2020), there will be 5.2% contraction in global GDP in 2020. International Monetary Fund (IMF, 2020) chief Gita Gopinath is of the opinion that this is the „Grate Lockdown‟ and they are projecting 3% contraction of the global GDP due to the COVID-19 pandemic. World Trade Organisation (WTO, 2020) mentioned that “world merchandise trade in2020 would contract by 13%, and a pessimistic scenario in which trade would fall by 32%.” According to the Global Trade Update published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 2020), “trade contraction from COVID-19 is deeper than global financial crisis. The value of international trade in goods has declined by about 5 percent in Q1 2020 and is expected to decline further by 27 percent in Q2 2020 and a 20% annual decline for 2020.” When COVID-19 appears to have reached the peak in some European countries, India is yet to face its peak as the number of reported positive cases is in increasing trend. On 30th June, 2020, total number of confirmed cases toll to 5,85,792 with 17,410 deaths (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2020). Dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, Indian government also imposed the social distancing norms and cancelled most of the visas and sealed its international borders by 13thMarch, 2020. India announced its first nationwide lockdown for 21 days from 24th March, 2020 followed by 19 days extension which was extended for another three different phases till 30th June, 2020 with some relaxation. Irrespective of global economy, Indian economy was already in a slowdown phase before the pandemic struck and it was expected to be recovered soon. But the nationwide lockdown shocked the economy harder. In the month of April, 2020 India‟s manufacturing and industrial production estimated record low by 64.3% and 55.5%. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers‟ Index (PMI) reached all-time high of 55.30 points in the month of January, 2020 but when COVID-19 hit the country the manufacturing PMI started declining and registered record low of 27.40% points in the month of April, 2020 (Trading Economics, 2020). According to the IMF (2020), India will be the large economy worst hit by COVID-19 pandemic and they projected that Indian GDP growth will shrink by 4.5%. On the other hand, World Bank (2020) warns drop of Indian GDP by 2.5% this year. This is due to reduction or shutdown of the production and sale of non-essential goods & services that has led to disruption in supply chain and decline in demand which impact the foreign trade even further (Virmani and Bhasin, 2020). Post-liberalisation period witnessing a rapid growth in Indian foreign trade and it has become a key component to the growth of the economy in the recent years (Prasad, E. Hari and Prasad, G.V Bhavani, 2018). India‟s foreign trade is combined by both export and import of merchandise and services with different countries. According to WTO (2019), for the year 2018, India‟s share in global export for merchandise was 1.7 % and in global import was 2.6

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%. For service sector, India‟s share in global export was 3.5 % and import was 3.2 %. Foreign trade plays a pivotal role in the development of Indian economy. Data published by World Bank (2019), India‟s export as percentage of GDP was 19.74% and import as percentage of GDP was 23.64%. So, it is important to study the impact of current pandemic on international trade of India. This paper mainly focuses on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the import and export of both goods and services. It will help the readers to understand how the COVID- 19 pandemic has changed the foreign trade scenario of India.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW Eminent researchers and academicians have started exploring this vague area of studies during the prevailing pandemic situation. Few studies available have been reviewed related to the pandemic. Although, to gain greater insight into the area, literature available related with similar crisis faced by the world have been reviewed. Following are some of the prominent research studies conducted previously been referred in the study. Khan, A. and Kotishwar, A. (2010) conducted a research to understand the effect of financial crisis on the export and import of India in terms of both product and services. The data considered for the study were of the year 2005-2008. The study found that there was tremendous growth in the export of both product and services in the post financial crisis period. In regard to import, it has been revealed that there was minimal difference in the total percentage change in comparison to the export. The study concludes that the effect of financial crisis on India‟s trade was felt very slowly as India believed in diversification in terms of direction as well as composition. Singh, S. (2010) in her paper revealed the impact of financial crisis in India and also accessed different ways of recovery adopted by India. The study found that during mid 2008 the crisis led to a shortage of money supply and deceleration in the country‟s GDP to 6.7% as compared to 9% in the previous year. However, India with introducing certain monetary and fiscal policies recovered very fast. Moreover, the recovery rate was high as the banking system in India was very sound and majority of the Indian never participated in equity market. Sivakumar, M. (2012) attempted to study the impact of global economic crisis on India‟s trade. The study considered Oct 2007-Sep 2008 as pre crisis period and Oct 2008-Sep 2011 as post crisis period. The study revealed that there was a declining trend in the India‟s export from Aug 2008 to Sep 2009 and the sign of recoveries were evidenced since Oct 2009. Similarly, India‟s import showed a negative trend from Sep 2008-Sep 2009 and started increasing since Oct 2009. The study concludes that though global crisis affected India but it lasted only for a short period. Prasad, E.H. and Prasad, G.V.B (2018) analysed the trend of India‟s foreign trade during the post and pre-liberalisation period. They found that there has been tremendous expansion in foreign trade during post-liberalisation period as compared to the period of pre- liberalisation. The study also examined the growth rate of import and export which showed higher growth in import as compared to export which led to deficit in the country‟s Balance of Payment. Gupta, S. (2019) in his paper studied the trend in foreign trade of India with the help of three parameters i.e. changes in value, direction and composition of foreign trade. The study found that in 1990-1991, export as percentage of GDP were only 5.8% which rose to 19.2% of total GDP in 2016-17. Regarding the composition of commodities, the researcher found that, apart from traditional goods, the percentage change in non-traditional good like chemical and engineering goods were also showing a higher rate of export. The major market for India‟s export were region developing countries and OECD countries.

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Agarwal, S. et al (2020) examined the impact of Covid-19 on the economy of India. The study also analysed 18 barriers which affected the country. In the study, it has been found that Covid-19 has led to shut down of various industries due to increase in cost of production, lack of workforce and receiving better alternative products on time from other countries. Maliszewska, et al (2020) made a study on the potential effect of outbreak of pandemic on the World‟s GDP and trade. The Envisage model was used in the study to arrive at the results. The study revealed that there is decline in the employment by 3%, rise in the trade costs by 25% and a sharp decline in the tourism, hospitality and recreation sector. The global GDP declined to 3.9% while average GDP of developing countries hit the highest i.e. 4% and in some developing countries GDP declined to 6.5%. Parth, K. (2020) in his paper studied the impact of COVID-19 in different Indian Industries. The study revealed that Aviation and Tourism is the deadly affected sector. Moreover, negative impact has been seen in the major GDP contributing sectors like textile, automobile, MSME etc. Food and Agriculture sector is the least impacted as India holds a strong position in this sector. The study also revealed that Insurance sector has showed robust growth resulting 18% in life insurance and 13% growth in general insurance. Virmani, A. and Bhasin, K. (2020) attempted to study the growth implication on Indian economy due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The study divided the economy into three major sectors- essential commodities, contact services and rest of the economy. The study highlighted that due to the lockdown measures taken by government, there was a decline in both demand and supply of goods and services except for food, beverage and pharmaceutical items. The study further revealed that Air transport, Hotels & Restaurants and Malls & shops (retailers) are considered as the most vulnerable sector due to Covid-19. However, the researcher mentioned in the study that Indian economy will start to recover from second half of 2020-2021. Research studies associated with this pandemic are limited as the Covid19 virus attacked the world recently. Few Studies have been conducted on the impact of this pandemic on Indian economy. But researcher could not find any research studies conducted on foreign trade of the country. So, the study has been taken on this important dimension of the economy of a country.

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main objective of the study is to analyse the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on foreign trade regime of India. The sub-objectives of the study include:  To observe the trend of foreign trade of India before and during the pandemic.  To compare the growth of foreign trade during the pandemic affected period with corresponding period of the preceding year.

4. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY The design of the present study is descriptive and analytical. The study is based on the data collected from secondary sources. Global economic condition and global trade scenario during COVID-19 pandemic have been analysed with the help of data gathered from the reports published by IMF, WTO, UNCTAD and World Bank. The required data related to monthly volume of import and export of merchandise and services by India for a period of one year have been obtained from the monthly bulletin of Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Various other websites, news articles, published and unpublished papers were also used in the study.

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The impact has been analysed by observing the trend and percentage change in growth on different aspects. The analysis is mainly based on the data related to the period between March, 2020 to May, 2020 when reported cases of COVID-19 started increasing rapidly across the world and consequently the countries started imposing lockdown. Data from May, 2019 to May, 2020 have been analysed to ascertain the pattern of foreign trade. Percentage change in growth has been compared with data related to corresponding period of previous year. The data have been analysed and presented with the help of graphs and tables prepared in Microsoft Excel.

5. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 5.1. Covid-19 Pandemic Impact on India’s Foreign Trade Ongoing pandemic and nationwide lockdown in many countries devastated the world trade and so India‟s foreign trade is not an exception to it. The Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO, 2020) projected 20% fall in the country‟s export amid COVID-19. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra, 2020) expects that merchandise will decline to 9.4% Year-on- year in FY-21. The exact picture can be asserted from the analysis below:

5.1.1. Trend of India’s Foreign Trade

Trend of Overall trade

65 60 57.85 53.15 55 52.05 52.59 51.59 51.7 48.9 48.49 49.58 48.56 50 42.28 45 48.67 47.36

S$ 45.42 45.37 40 43.56 44.37 44.28 43.91 43.98 44.96 U

n 35 37.57 30.77 o

i 26.42 34.75 l 30 l

Bi 25 26.81 n

i 20

u 15 l

a 10 V 5 0 -5 -10 -4.62 -4.58 -5.6 -4.34 -3.19 -2.71 0.39 3.98 -15 -9.18 -8.49 -7.17 -7.22 -8.19 Month wise trade Exports Imports Trade Balance Linear (Exports) Linear (Imports)

Figure 1 Month-wise overall Export and Import of last 12 Months Source: Press Release of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (GoI) The Figure 1 furnishes the overall trade of India from May, 2019 to May, 2020. Two linear lines in the figure depict the trend of export and import and gap between two lines shows the difference between export and import. It has been seen that the linear lines of export and import shows a declining trend. Before COVID-19 i.e. during May 2019-Dec 2019 there was a huge gap between the two linear lines. But during COVID-19 havoc the gap has gradually started declining from Jan 2020. It has also been seen that in May 2019 the export was 48.67 billion US$ after which it has sharply declined to 43.56 billion US$ in June 2019. But there has been seen a rise in export in the month of July 2019. During Aug 2019 to February 2020, the fluctuation in the export was very low in comparison to the preceding month. Further, after the outbreak of pandemic and nationwide lockdown, there has been a

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 757 [email protected] An Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on Indian Foreign Trade sharp decrease in the exports i.e. 37.57 billion US$ in March 2020 from 49.37 billion US$ in Feb 2020. The export figure hit the lowest in April i.e. 26.81 billion US$ but it started increasing again from May. In regard to import, it has been seen that in May 2019, the total import was 57.85 billion US$ which falls to 52.05 billion US$ in June 2019. Since June 2019 to Jan 2020, there was not much changes in the imports but after the outbreak of the pandemic and worldwide lockdown, there has been decline in the month of Feb 2020 i.e. 48.56 billion US$ which again declined to 42.28 billion US$ in March 2020 and further sharp fall has been seen in April 2020 i.e. 26.42 billion US$. However, there has been again a rise in the import with 30.77 billion US$ in May 2020. During May 2019-March 2020, there has been a continuous trade deficit. In the month of April 2020, though export and import both fall sharply but the total export and import were almost equal and further in May 2020, total export has increased as compared to import which shows a positive trend in the trade balance.

5.1.2. Growth in Foreign Trade over Previous Year

60 70 50.67 Exports 48.67 55.06 Imports 57.85 50 60 44.14 52.8

39.57 50 $ 42.28 40 $ 34.75 S S 40 U U 26.81 30.77

30 n 26.42 n

30 o o i i l l l l 20 20 i i B B

10 10 n n i i

e 0

0 u u March April May -10 March April May Val

-10 Val [VALUE] -20 [VALUE] [VALUE] (21.91%) [VALUE] [VALUE] (46.81%) -20 (39.26%) -30 (23.21%) [VALUE] (28.60%) (49.96%) -30 -40 Corresponding Months of Two Periods Corresponding Months of Two Periods

2019 2020 Trade Decline 2019 2020 Trade Decline

Figure 2 Percentage Change in growth of Figure 3 Percentage Change in growth Export of Import

Source: Press Release of Ministry of Source: Press Release of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI Commerce and Industry, GoI

The Figure 2 and Figure 3 has shown the percentage change in total export and import of India for three corresponding months i.e. March, April and May of two periods 2019 and 2020. It has been observed that export in March 2020 was 39.57 billion US$ which shows negative growth of (-)21.91% as compared to 50.67 billion US$ in March 2019. The decline has been continued in the month of April and May 2020 resulting as 39.26% and 28.60 % respectively as compared to 2019. In regard to import, it has been noticed that in March 2020, total importwere42.28 billion US$ which shows negative growth of (-) 23.21% as compared to 55.06 billion US$ in March 2019. The decline has been continued in the month of April and May 2020 resulting as 49.96% and 46.81 % respectively as compared to 2019. Thus, it can be interpreted that due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and nationwide lockdown, the foreign trade of India has been impacted adversely. It has been also observed that the percentage change in negative growth rate is lower in case of export than import which reduces the margin of trade deficit for the country.

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5.1.3. Sectoral Growth in Trade as Compared to Preceding Month

Table 1 Percentage Change in Merchandise Trade

Merchandise Trade (Month over month percentage change) Exports Imports Trade Deficit Vol. % Vol. % Vol. % Months (Billion Change (Billion Change (Billion Change

US$) US$) US$) February 27.65 - 37.50 - -9.85 - March 21.41 -22.56 31.16 -16.91 -9.75 -1.02 April 10.36 -51.61 17.12 -45.06 -6.76 -30.67 May 19.05 83.88 22.20 29.67 -3.15 -53.40 Source: Press Release of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (GoI)

The Table 1 shows month over month percentage change in the volume of export and import of India and trade balance with regard to merchandise trade during the period March 2020 to May 2020. From the table, it has been found that the percentage change in export in March and April 2020 were (-) 22.56% and (-) 51.61% which shows a drastic decline in export of merchandise. On the other hand, export in May, 2020 registered a huge positive growth of 83.88% as compared to the preceding month. Similarly, in the month of March and April, 2020, imports were declined by (-)16.91% and (-) 45.06% and rise in the month of May, 2020 by 29.67%. This phenomenon is due to the nationwide lockdown followed by many countries during March and April, 2020 and relaxation in lockdown from May, 2020. India‟s merchandise trade shows deficit balance during this period. Irrespective of percentage changes in trade, it has been observed that in March, 2020 trade deficit was declined by only (-)1.02% but in the month of April and May, 2020 it was declined by (-) 30.67% and (-) 53.40% which is a good sign for India‟s trade balance position is concerned.

Table 2 Percentage Change in Service Trade

Service Trade (Month over month percentage change) Exports Imports Trade Surplus Vol. % Vol. % Vol. % Months (Billion Change (Billion Change (Billion Change US$) US$) US$) February 17.73 - 11.07 - 6.66 - March 18.16 2.42 11.11 0.36 6.05 -9.16 April 16.45 -9.42 9.30 -16.29 7.15 18.18 May 15.70 -4.56 8.57 -7.85 7.13 -0.28 Source: Press Release of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India (GoI)

The Table 2 depicts the month over month percentage change in international service trade of India during the period of March 2020 to May 2020. It has been observed that the percentage change in export in March 2020 was 2.42% which shows a positive growth. In April 2020, the export was declined resulting in percentage change of (-) 9.42% and further export was declined in May by (-)4.56%. In case of import of services, it has been found that there was a positive change in March, 2020 by 0.36% and in the month of April and May, 2020, the import was declined by (-)16.29% and (-)7.85% as compared to the preceding month. India‟s service trade shows surplus balance during the period irrespective of percentage changes in trade. The percentage change in trade surplus in March was (-) 9.16%

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 759 [email protected] An Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on Indian Foreign Trade from February 2020. In April, there has been a positive percentage change in the trade balance i.e. 18.18% and again, in the month of May, the percentage change in trade balance falls by(-) 0.28%.It has been observed that when trade was at lower point in terms of value, service trade shows a positive growth.

5.1.4. Growth in Export of Top 10 Commodities

Exports of Top 10 Commodities

120.00% e

g 90.00% n

a 60.00% h C

30.00% e

g 0.00% a t -30.00% n e

c -60.00% r e -90.00% P -120.00% Organi Leather Mica, Petroli Gems RMG c & Plastic Engine & Coal & um & Iron of all Inorga & ering Leather Rice other Produc Jewella Ore Textile nic Linole Goods Produc Minera t ry s Chemi um t ls cal March -31.12% -41.05% -42.32% 58.43% -36.78% -28.28% -34.06% -34.06% -32.88% -35.67% April -66.22% -98.74% -64.89% 17.53% -93.28% -7.04% -91.04% -60.41% -41.93% -25.35% May -68.46% -68.83% -24.25% 103.04% -75.07% 7.64% -66.19% -35.57% -12.71% -6.55% Corresponding Months of Two Periods

March April May

Figure 4 Percentage Change in Export of Top 10 Commodities during March, 2020 to May, 2020. Source: Monthly Bulletin on Foreign Trade, DGFT.

The Figure no. 4 shows the top 10 commodities which are exported by India during the lockdown period i.e. March-May 2020 and a comparison has been made with the corresponding months of 2019. It has been seen that in the month of March 2020, only iron ore has shown a positive change as compared to March, 2019 and tremendous fall has been seen in the exports of commodities like Engineering Goods, Gems & Jewellery, Leather product and Plastic & Linoleum. In the month of April, when there was strict lockdown, it has been depicted a sharp fall in the exports of all commodities except rice where there has been a fall only by (-) 7.04% and iron ore which shows a positive growth of 17.53%. In the month of May, when lockdown measures were relaxed to some extent, it has been seen that there was a sharp rise of 103.04% in iron ore as compared to May, 2019 and there was also a rise in export of rice i.e. 7.64%. Also, it has been reflected that though the percentage change in other commodities was negative but the change is much less as compared to the previous month. This shows that the export volume of India has started recovering from the effect of pandemic from May, 2020.

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5.1.5. Growth in Export in Top 10 Destinations

Top 10 Destinations of Exports 60 5

1.84 e 0.54 g

50 0 n $ -2.5 a S -3.35 40 -5 h U C -6.11 -6.85 n e i

30 -10.94 -10 g e a t u l n

20 -15.85 -15 e c

Va -16.94 r

10 -20 e

-20.74 P 0 -25

2018-19 2019-20 % Change (R.H.S)

Figure 5 Percentage Change in Export of Top 10 Destinations during 2018-19 & 2019-20 Source: Monthly Bulletin on Foreign Trade, DGFT. The Figure 5 shows the top 10 countries to which India exports its commodities and services and a comparison has been made to depict the changes occurred in FY 2019-2020 as compared to FY 2018-19. It has been observed that USA is the major destination of India‟s exports followed by United Arabs Emirates and Nepal is occupying the 10th position. In the FY 2019-2020, a positive growth has been seen in export to USA and China PRC and in rest of the 8 countries a negative growth has been noticed as compared to the FY 2018-2019. However, the lowest percentage change is recorded in China i.e. 0.54% followed by Netherland i.e. (-) 2.5% and the highest is recorded in Singapore i.e. (-) 20.74% followed by Bangladesh i.e. (-) 16.94%.

6. CONCLUSION The entire economy of the country is affected by the unprecedented havoc of COVID-19 pandemic. As predicted by different agencies, foreign trade of India also shows negative growth during this crisis. There has been a huge contraction in the export and import specially in the month of April when strict lockdown has been enforced in many countries. But, with the relaxation in lockdown from May, 2020 the trade started picking its pace. Contrary to this, for the first time after liberalisation, India records surplus balance of trade in the month of April and May, 2020. This surplus is observed due to decline in import rather than escalation in export. Since, saving human lives was prioritized during this crisis so strict lockdown was imposed which hampered the economy. The decline in the economic growth can result in long term damage to the Indian economy so the government of India announced economic package to boost the economy. The quantum of that package is around 10% of country‟s GDP. On the other hand, the government has also extended the existing Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 for another one-year upto 31 March, 2021 along with time to time amendments. Subsequently, frequent amendments have been done in export policy in terms of relaxing prohibitions and tariff. As surplus balance of trade has been seen in the country irrespective of trade decline, this should be taken as an opportunity to increase the export so that the surplus balance can be maintained in the near future. The government should take measures to promote more and

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 761 [email protected] An Impact Analysis of Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis on Indian Foreign Trade more export than import. Foreign companies should be attracted to the nation by giving relaxation and try to strengthen the base of local producer so that they can increase their production and can export across the globe. One of such bold steps have been taken by the government i.e. Self-Reliant India Movement which is expected to strengthen production and export in the country and as such foreign exchange reserve.

7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE OF RESEARCH The study is carried out with secondary data on foreign trade collected from different government websites. Complete data related to the recent months trade are yet to be published by the government which restrict the researchers to conduct more detailed and in-depth study. The study has been conducted only in India during the ongoing period of pandemic. Extensive research study can be done in different regions of the world during and after this pandemic and also a comparison can be made regarding the impact of the pandemic. There is further scope for research in changes in policy measures and government initiative adopted by government to safeguard the foreign trade regime from this pandemic.

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