In an effort to combat the threat of the 2019 novel coronavirus (officially renamed, “COVID-19”) outbreak, numerous countries have instituted stringent policy measures to prevent the spread of the outbreak. While, for now, such policy measures comprise of widespread travel restrictions, workplace closures, city-wide lockdowns and mandatory quarantines, with the World Health Organization having declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, there are growing concerns of restrictions on trade with infected regions being imposed soon.

As crucial as such policy measures are in curtailing the rampant spread of this outbreak, business operations of companies, both, inside and outside of China, are facing considerable commercial disruption as a consequence of these measures. Disturbances in global supply and production chains are expected to result in lower production in India, with significant impact in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, technology and automobile manufacturing, which are heavily reliant on China for raw materials and / or for the completion of their assembly lines.

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