Study on Economic Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Small Businesses: A Study with reference to Women Entrepreneurs of Kerala

Abstract

The World has been gripped by a pandemic over the first half of 2020. It was identified as a new coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2), and later named as Coronavirus Disease-19 or COVID-19 (Qiu et al„ 2020). Pandemics are expected to have a severe negative impact on economic activities, at least in the short run. The impact of the crisis differs by sectors. The objective of the study is to identify the problems faced by small scale businesses in Pathanamthitta district during Covid-19 and to analyze the impact of Covid-19 on various aspects of small-scale businesses in Pathanamthitta district. Lack of finance, lack of customers, stress and Worries, decreased revenue, maintaining balance between business and household, of loans are the major problems. The Chi- square test is done to know the impact of Covid -19 on small businesses. It is found that the two attributes, type of industry and level of impact of covid-19 are independent.