MUMBAI: The NTIA has campaigned for many months regarding the issue of commercial rents, with 77.6% of Night Time Economy businesses in over 3 quarters of rent arrears and suffering financial hardship. The industry welcomes the extension of the forfeiture moratorium, as a welcome reprieve but not a long-term solution.

Michael Kill CEO NTIA says, "The extension of the Forfeiture Moratorium until June 2021 has been welcomed by businesses which have been under an immense amount of pressure financially, but still does not address the underlying issues of rent arrears and ongoing rent solution"

"Businesses Owners will continue to take on further rent debt through this period, which will inevitably compromise their future. This needs Government intervention and will require lead departments to use this period to address these issues and look at potential solutions where the stakeholders share the burden of debt from rent arrears. Consideration needs to be given to a more robust code of conduct which would require some mandatory elements within it, similar to the Australian model, ensuring that each stakeholder comes to the table to resolve this current situation"

“Thousands of businesses have been lost already, with many employees and freelancers, hanging off every announced press statement. With the acknowledgement by the PM of the immense commitment of businesses and the nation in support of the Public Health Strategy by the Prime Minister, out of courtesy would it be too much to ask the Government to place greater importance on timely communication given the gravity of some of these announcements”