Despite the spiking cases of Corona, our country is opening up. Mumbai is still “supposedly” in a lockdown though you might refute that seeing the number of people on the road at any given point of time.

What this means is that people have decided that Covid or no Covid, they need to survive and for that they need to get out of home; any more lockdown is not going to work.

Thus as this juncture, as we all try and get back to a new “normal,” lets look, as a consumer, what are the sectors/industries which will boom in the coming days. We are looking at new avenues and mostly at city dwellers.

TO DO WELL

Grocery stores – People will continue to stock more and more due to fear and paranoia; every perishable good will be in demand.

Malls – people will need a place to-go-to, to beat the heat, the rains and to get over he stay-at-home induced claustrophobia. Footfalls will happen but not necessarily buying.

White goods – domestic help is not around and might not be around for some more time; demand for dishwashers, washing machines, driers, vacuum cleaners and likes on the surge already.

Cybersecurity – with more and more people working from home, which will be the norm, protecting the data will be prime and in that context, companies offering cybersecurity softwares will be in great demand.

Telecom companies – Data is the king and today, life seems impossible without internet and smartphone; this will only rise as time goes.

DTH and streaming – watching the screen has become the biggest thing in these two months – the laptop or smartphone or TV. Apart from DTH, the likes of Netflix, Prime, Voot, Zee5 have seen a huge surge in their subscriptions.

E-learning resources – learning apps are here to stay now; Byju or Vedantu or the scores of these in the market, not just education, even hobbies, cookery classes and other such courses will now develop their own apps.

Online fitness – gyms will be the last to open up and even after they do, many would not be brave enough to go and that makes online gyms the best thing to have happened.

Gaming – Video games are huge and this will only grow exponentially as more and more people get ‘addicted’ this

Food & drink deliveries – the likes of Zomato, Swiggy are here to stay and more will come up as people will prefer to order home that eat out.

Online shopping – be it groceries or even cars, people are now ordering everything online and that is only going to grow.

Legal services – apart from divorces, companies going phut are going to need the service of lawyers and this is literally going to be their best time ever.

Pharma – as such in these troubled markets, pharma stocks are the ones that have held their steed and they will continue to do so till health remains a priority and Covid overhang stays.

Wellness and hygiene products – not just sanitisers, everything which boosts immunity, be is Ayurveda or allopathy or even an external application product, health and staying healthy will be a priority.

New line of clothing – PPE, masks, gloves; people might not buy new clothes as such but these new garbs to fight the corona are surely going to be the new fashion statements.

Residential realty – those who are living in smaller homes might want to upgrade to a bigger home; maybe with a self-quarantine thing in mind or to accommodate a stay-in-maid.

Domestic tourism – surely by Sept or once the curve is flattened and people are relatively at ease, travel within the country is expected to boom. Road trips are going to be norm as public transport will be avoided.

Cyles and two-wheelers – demand is expected to spike up, especially in rural India as the mode of transport.

NOT TO DO WELL

Hotels – it will take a while for people to come and stay but as time goes, maybe if the second wave does not come, by December, hotels could see a peak!

Restaurants – eating out will remain out of the purview for most even if tables are arranged as per social distancing norms. Casinos, pubs and discotheques will take a long while.

Travel agents – booking tickets and travel packages might soon become a thing of the past as this pandemic has made almost everyone go online.

Airlines – after this initial rush to get home, not much business is expected as people will avoid travelling by plane unless inevitable.

Theaters – going to a movie theater today seems scary; ditto for plays, concerts and marriages.

Commercial realty – working from home is the new norm and will be here to stay. Many offices will downsize.

Decline in foreign tourists – just as most of us would be wary of travelling abroad, foreigners will not be rushing to India and for states like Rajasthan, Kerala and Goa which depend extensively on foreign tourism, it’s a tough road ahead.