Flu impact: Malls see lower footfalls in peak biz season

Last year, the economic downturn played spoilt sport and this year,, the retail industry will have to bear the brunt of Swine Flu. CNBC-TV18's Tanvi Shukla and Avni Raja report that this comes at a bad time for the industry, as August-December are traditionally peak business months.

Here is a verbatim transcript of Tanvi shukla and Avni Raja on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Independence Day to New Year is the festive season when a significant part of the business takes place for retailers. But the Swine Flu scare this time might just rain on their parade, especially in two major markets- Mumbai and Pune.

Pantaloon has already seen business drop 20% in Pune and 6-7% in Mumbai.

Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group said "We have some impact in Pune but none of our stores are closed except one in Pimpri. All the stores are operational. We are seeing decent business but we are not seeing the usual crowd. This even is not as big as January 26.

Sales at Aditya Birla Group's more stores in Pune have also been hit. But most retailers believe that strong sales in other parts of the country will make up for this dip in Maharashtra's performance.

Experts warn that if the flu spread further, things will definitely get worse. In the past one day for instance, footfals at High Street Phoenix Mall have dropped 7%. It's only the serious shopper who's heading to the malls.

"I don't think the Swine Flu scare is going to stop me from coming to malls. If I have to get infected, it will happen anywhere," said a customer. "We are taking precautions to avoid getting infected in our own way. But staying at home will not help."

To service these customers, retailers are continuing discounts and promotional offers. Interestingly, while the theatres have been asked to remain closed till Sunday night, the government has not asked malls to down shutters. So if you're not scared of catching swine flu, you can still spend Independence Day on a shopping spree even if a movie is out of the picture.