IGI Logo

The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has said that retail sales in January 2022 suffered due to the restrictions imposed by states in an attempt to curb the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic. In its latest business survey, it said retail sales in January were at 91 percent of the pre-pandemic sales levels of January 2019, as well as that of January 2020.

The survey revealed that in terms of region, the East zone witnessed the biggest drop last month with a 13 percent decline, as compared to January 2019, followed by West at 11 percent decline and North with a drop of 8 percent. South zone was the least impacted registering a 2 percent decline, as compared to January 2019.

Category-wise, it said beauty, wellness, and personal care were the worst hit with a drop of 24 percent as compared to January 2019, followed by furniture and furnishing with a drop of 12 percent and apparel and clothing registering a decline of 7 percent. However, the jewelry segment grew 11 percent in January this year, as compared to the same month in 2019 and quick-service restaurants also witnessed a growth of 9 percent.