As an owner of a small business in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh – a city just 160 kilometres away from the national capital, the recent internet shutdowns have been a nightmare for us. It not only silenced our voice on social media, but also disconnected us from the rest of the world.
I run a small export business that makes handicraft products mainly used for home decor and various seasonal festivals. On December 20, internet services were shut down here with no prior information or warning. There was no form of online connectivity.
We dispatch our orders mostly on Friday, some of which go to the Nhava Sheva or Mundra ports, in the hopes that custom clearance is done by the following Monday or Tuesday. Last week though, as December 20 was a Friday, we failed to deliver our orders as per the expectations of our customers because there was no way to access the internet to generate an e-way bill.
All international departmental stores have very strict compliance rules regarding late delivery and our customers are no different. But with no way of communicating with them, how were we supposed to inform our customer management team? On December 23, with our hats in our hands, we sought an extension from our customers after informing them about the internet shutdown in our city.
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I am afraid also how customers will see this – it is effectively a kind of trouble in doing business with India. It may affect our future business. I don’t know if they will write and ask us, “Is placing an order with you safe? What if we write you an e-mail but don’t get any update about order acceptance, production status, shipping status etc due to Internet shutdown?”
What is the solution to this? Do I need to have internet shutdown contingencies? Make sure I have a customer management team that operates out of India and automatically know when the internet is blacked out in Moradabad?
On Sunday (December 22), access to the internet was restored in the evening. On logging in, amidst the angry messages, I saw one correspondence from my wholesale customer who had been at a meeting with one of his clients. He needed an instant quote and the delivery time of an item that we make here in India. Needless to say, he got no response from our end. What’s worse is that he had left messages on nearly every platform conceivable – email, Skype, WeChat and WhatsApp, but we were disconnected from the internet.
No environment for doing business
Again, on Friday (December 27), they stopped partial internet services. I humbly ask, how can we do business in this environment? Should we officially make a change in our working hours and say that we don’t work on Fridays due to ‘no Internet’? Or should I add a line in my automatic email response that says we will get back online only on Saturday morning, so do not expect a response from our side due to an inability to access internet?
The woes of a small business, of course, may seem like small news in the light of the bigger Citizenship (Amendment) Act controversy. But, the internet shutdown affects the way we live our daily lives as well. Smaller cities have embraced Digital India. Last week, when I was at the petrol pump, filling my vehicle’s tank, I handed over my card, only to be met promptly with the response, “Bhaiyaji, no internet.” Thank god I had cash in my wallet at the time.
Demonstrator display placards and shout slogans during a protest against a new citizenship law, in New Delhi, December 19, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Anushree Fadnavis
Who then, can earn handsomely without internet these days? Perhaps our local tea-sellers, who are cashing in due to the cold weather. But I wonder about those who are fully dependent on the internet, like the hundreds of Swiggy and Zomato delivery guys who deliver food to many of our city’s streets and lanes.
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The fact is that whether it is an export business like mine, or a shop at the local market, today everyone’s business requires the internet in some way, shape or form. Generating e-way bills for business, tracking custom clearances logistics and courier bookings – all these are carried out with the help of the internet.
I hope the government understands that blocking the internet is a big loss to our country now. If it believes there are chances of law and order problems due to fake news or rumours spread through a particular app, why not carry out targeted blocks instead of a blanket ban that brings modern life to a halt?
Faisal Hasan runs Handikraft Corporation, a Moradabad-based exporter of home decor products.