PwC | India

Responding to the potential business impacts of COVID-19

COVID-19 can cause potentially significant people, social and economic implications for organisations. This page provides information on how you can prepare your organisation and respond.

The COVID-19 outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization, causing huge impact on people's lives, families and communities.

As the international response continues to develop, we know that organisations are facing several potentially significant challenges to which they need to respond rapidly. We are working closely with organisations globally to help them in preparing and responding, sharing our experience having worked with companies, governments, regulators, NGOs and international organisations around the world to respond to some of the most high profile outbreaks (including Ebola, MERS, SARS and bird flu).

Our Crisis Management team is currently working with a range of organisations across industries. Key concerns that are emerging include:

Crisis planning

From our experience, a strongly developed crisis response capability is required to ensure the efficient management of incidents in order to minimise associated negative impacts, meet government priorities around maintenance and confidence, and to ensure the continued delivery of critical national infrastructure. Many organisations have these plans in place for the workplace and supply chain but COVID-19 has already unveiled flaws in some. Given the unknown variables surrounding the outbreak, it is important to review crisis and business continuity plans, develop different scenarios and put them to the test.

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Workforce

Whilst the priority remains human welfare, we are hearing about other employee challenges. Examples include establishing the tax position of people who are moving between countries on an emergency basis, through to companies having to plan on putting production lines on pause due to supply chain issues, with the associated potential impact of asking employees to temporarily stop work.

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Business continuity

Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been widespread concerns about the continuity of business operations worldwide. Knowing about the current technology and security limitations of the current work environment and planning for future remote working needs can help an organisation ensure business continuity and minimise disruption.

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Supply chain

Where clients are reliant on supply chains in affected areas, rapidly depleting stock levels are becoming a significant risk and clients are working through strategies for alternative sourcing. In certain cases, clients are showing signs of distress and stakeholders (e.g. lenders) are concerned about the future viability of the business. We are discussing different potential scenarios and what these mean for their operations, for example, as cases of viral transmission emerge in different territories.

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Financial and Liquidity Risk

At present, the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak and by when it will be brought under control remains unknown. But it is certain is that businesses worldwide will need to consider the impact of reduced economic activities and lockdowns on their financial health and stability. Responding to an economic slowdown requires sensitive management of finances, balancing the short-term requirements with the long-term plans by organisations.

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