The restaurant industry with an annual turnover of approximately ₹4 lakh crore and providing direct employment to over seven million Indians is in a very precarious situation currently, fighting a grim battle for its basic survival, according to the National Restaurant Association of India.

“As an Industry, our business model is such that the proportion of fixed operating expenses is very high, which is very high-risk model. Now, with the prospect of zero revenues staring at us for a substantial period of time, our fight is now a battle to retain our mere existence as commercial entities that provides jobs to millions, " NRAI said in a statement.

"We are also mindful that post the lockdown, it will take us many months to become sustainable again. To achieve these twin objectives, we need to somehow bring down our fixed operating costs and its ratio; there is no other way out and the biggest components of these fixed operating costs are Rentals and Manpower expenses,"it added.

Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI said some of the big mall owners such as Lulu Group, Lodha Group, Forum and Vegas have already announced immediate interim reliefs. "We request other mall owners and independent landlords to do the same. We sincerely appeal to waive off the rentals and CAM for three months and work on a moderate revenue share model for six months post that till the business regains some lost foothold," he said.

"This appeal is aimed at ensuring our mere survival during such extraordinarily troubled times; we aren’t trying to profiteer at the expense of the landlords. As long-standing business partners of ours, we are hopeful that the landlords will extend their support in these times of unprecedented crisis," Katriar added.