Restaurants may shut across India

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), which represents over 5 lakh restaurants in the country, has advised its restaurant members to shut down dine-in operations starting Wednesday across the country till March 31.

“We have taken a decision to advise members to close all restaurants across India because we are endangering a lot of employees. We will never be able to survive the guilt if a fatality occurs at our end,” NRAI president Anurag Katriar said.

Katriar however said the decision to shut down individual restaurants will remain voluntary and not mandatory.

In a report released last year, the association had said the Indian restaurant industry employed over 7.3 million people in 2018-19. The food services industry is estimated at over Rs 4.2 lakh crore.