IFFCO Bazar performance impressive in Lockdown

Strangely enough, IFFCO’s pet project IFFCO eBazar has performed better in the lockdown period compared to the same time period in the last fiscal by posting 78% higher sales turnover.

This was announced by IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi while lauding the IFFCO Bazar team for their spectacular performance.

Awasthi tweeted “Commendable work done by @iffcoyogendra& team even in adverse operating conditions as the total sales turnover is 78% higher in May2020 than last year for same month. More IFFCO eBazar stores are opening up & all segments showing healthy growth.”

Explaining the rise in its business IFFCO Marketing Director Yogendra Kumar thanked the Modi govt and said due to the Centre’s initiative the agricultural activities in the country remained unaffected by Covid 19.

Farmers were able to plough, sow and reap their produce as usual and thus the sale of fertilizer in general remained unaffected. “To tell you the truth, if one looks at the May data, fertilizer sale has registered a growth of 33%,” Kumar underlined.

The all-encompassing presence of IFFCO Bazar across the whole of India is another reason for its spectacular performance, said the Marketing Director who has begun attending the office at IFFCO Sadan after a long lockdown phase. “We had been active from home and working on the direction of our MD all through”, said Kumar soft peddling the issue of what is known as the Lockdown Blues for business.

Justifying the rise of IFFCO Bazar sales compared to the last year, Yogendra Kumar said that we have also grown in strength as today we have more than a thousand sales points encompassing practically all the states in the country.

Another reason for rise in sales could be due to the increase in sowing areas in the country, said Yogendra Kumar. According to an estimate there has been around 40 per cent increase in the sowing areas which naturally builds greater demand for fertilizers.

Experts say that the sudden announcement of Lockdown created a psychology of fear and people were actively storing essential items lest they disappear from the market. The increased sale of fertilizer across states may be result of panic buying, they argue. Yogendra Kumar however did not agree with this and maintained that govt encouragement to farmers during lockdown is the main reason behind the increased sale.