IndiaActive, an association formed by the fitness industry in India has appealed to the state governments especially Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand to re-open gyms. Gym owners from across the nation including the big brands like Gold’s gym, Multifit, Anytime Fitness, UFC Gym, Snap fitness and Nittro have come together to address their unheard issues by the state governments who have yet not given the permission to re-open gyms.
Major Setback during 6 months of Lockdown
The entire industry faced a 100% setback especially in the above mentioned states. Despite of the gym owners agreeing to follow all the standard protocols they are of the view that they need equal support from the government to ensure smooth functioning of the gyms. Gyms in India expect at least a year’s lag time before the business gains traction and thus they want the governments of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar to let them re-open gyms at the earliest to avoid further loss.
Safety Measures in Delhi Gyms
While in Delhi where the operations have just begun the gym owners are strictly following safety norms in view of covid-19, they have taken several measures like repositioning of machines, to maintain social distancing, limiting workout time, sanitisation after every session and capping the number of people in each session as directed by the MHA. On an average 35-40% members have started coming back to the gym which is encouraging though the revenues are not much but we are confident that in next 2 months it will further improve.
Quotes
Nikhil Kakkar, COO, Gold’s Gym and Treasurer, IndiaActive
“The lockdown has affected several industries along with the fitness industry. We would request the government to give a GST tax holiday on membership, as to fight against Covid-19 one needs to have stronger immunity and that can happen by ‘Staying Active, Staying Fit’. This is possible under the supervision of fitness expert at the gyms. Moreover every gym considering big and small employees on an average 20 people and 20 families livelihood is attached to it hence there are lacs of families who are suffering with the closure. Hence they should motivate people to go back to gym and allow us to re-open gyms at the earliest.
Vikas Jain, Managing Director, Anytime Fitness and General Secretary, IndiaActive
“Due to restrictions in the major states like Maharashtra, Bihar etc. that are houses to a number of branches of the leading gym facilities in India, many people are facing unemployment due to lockdown. Even though there is a lockdown, all the gym owners have to pay property rent, tax, salaries, electricity bills etc. Many Gyms across the country have shut shop and for the remaining one’s, most of them have drained their capital and now the situation of paying minimum salary to the trainers, players have become a distant dream.”
About IndiaActive
IndiaActive is an association formed by the fitness industry for the fitness industry. Since the fitness industry is large yet unorganized and fragmented, IndiaActive aims to build and represent a structured community for the betterment of the industry as a whole with focus on addressing the immediate & long term problems.