‘Innovation is the need of the hour’: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw says businesses have to reinvent and repurpose in a post-Covid world

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered an economic slowdown of epic proportions. The dwindling economy, the falling Sensex and the plummeting stock market are giving India Inc sleepless nights, with the start-ups and MSMEs bracing themselves for a major impact.

The circumstances aren’t as ‘rosy’ as they used to be, with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimating that the unemployment rate in April this year climbed to 23.5%, up from 7.6% a year ago.

Layoffs and furloughs have become the order of the day. The Chairperson and managing director of Biocon Limited, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, took to Twitter to share her two cents on the economic slowdown with her 1.5 million followers. The Indian billionaire entrepreneur opined that businesses in India need to ‘reinvent and repurpose’ in the new norm.


Emphasising on the need to constantly change with time, Shaw said, ‘innovation is the need of the hour’.

The shepreneur quote-tweeted a story from a news portal about a pani puri vendor struggling to make ends meet. Shaw said that the pani puri vendors will find enough customers if they come up with contactless and clean methods which many food vendors have done.

Several netizens agreed with Miss Shaw’s thoughts.

This netizen, for instance, echoed Shaw’s thoughts and said ‘change is the only constant’. ‘Post COVID19, Millennial mindset won’t work,’ he added.


Twitterati felt that adapting to Covid is a reality all businesses and service providers must accept.

This netizen felt that the paucity of funds is an important factor that must be addressed while innovating.


Twitter user @indian_ordinary opined that making the consumer/customer feel safe is the key. “Does he feel comfortable walking into your office/Showroom to buy whatever it is you’re selling?” asked the netizen.

Will businesses be able to survive the Covid-impact? Only time will tell.