bengaluru india which is pegged as the worlds fastestgrowing online retail market is not expected to grow in 2020 according to revised projections by market research firm forrester the industry faces an indefinite closure of a large part of its business after the ministry of home affairs did a uturn on it decision allowing the sale of nonessentials including smartphones and stationary from monday companies are putting new hirings for warehouses and delivery on hold and may also have to lay off staff or put them on furlough according to industry executives the thousands of merchants that had prepared to sell on online platforms also face an uncertain future read alsosales of nonessential goods by ecomm cos prohibited till lockdown govtallowing etailers to supply only essentials to create level playing field for small retailers goyal advt the nonessentials business accounts for 8590 of sale for indias largest online retail platforms like flipkart and amazon india both of whom also employ over 1 lakh delivery personnel and warehouse workers mostly on contract following the latest directive from centre forrester said the ecommerce industry might remain flat from an estimate of 5 which was based on the earlier lockdown of three weeks till april 14there must be one way of commerce that should be open and ecommerce is the best channel as of now to limit contracting covid19 and serve consumers what they need when we are looking at a 40day lockdown said satish meena senior forecast analyst forrester meena said the governments move will impact all sizes of sellers and brands online beyond just the biggies like flipkart and amazon ecommerce gross sales were at 2324 billion in the previous year as the industry grew by 26ecommerce players are revisiting the number of workers they need for supply chain and logistics after the sale of nonessentials was prohibited we cant keep paying so many people when only grocery and fmcg products are being sold a top ecommerce executive said walmartowned flipkart in the runup to monday when they were supposed to start selling all goods had hired about 4000 workers amid the labour shortage according to industry sources amazon india was also beefing up its delivery workforce the impact on jobs or salary delays would also extend to independent smaller merchants a delhibased merchant who sells on both amazon and flipkart told toi he has told his staff there will be delays in their salaries the government is saying dont cut jobs or salaries but how would i continue paying them if i sell nothing and make no money there is no government package either he said these players through industry associations like ficci and cii are also writing to the government to include at least home kitchen appliances and workfromhome equipment in the list of essential products a source aware of the matter said etailers would be less keen to demand inclusion of smartphones in this list after the latest developments advt government officials are not entertaining