Timely payment of EMIs or credit card bills is an essential aspect of taking charge of your financial life. Very often, people miss their bill payments because of their busy schedules. Making on-time bill payments a priority will lead to many benefits and will keep you out of debt traps.

Here are five reasons to pay your EMIs or credit card payments on time:

• Good credit standing: Making timely payments of EMIs or credit card bills will ensure that your credit history remains positive. A good credit score makes you creditworthy. Having a high credit score will enable you to avail quick, formal finance to address your needs in the future.

• Avail loans easily: If you have a high credit score, banks or financial institutions won’t hesitate to sanction your loans. You can even get higher loan amounts with low-interest rates.

• Save on fines: You may avoid the penalty or late payment fee that banks charge by paying the EMIs or credit card bills on time. This helps avoid increasing your financial burden.

• Save money: When you pay your EMIs or credit card bills on time, you save more as the interest on the outstanding amount does not increase. Lenders may charge high interest on delayed repayments.

• Keep the monthly payments low: When you miss your bill payment for a month, you will need to pay it the following month. So, the amount to be paid in the next month will increase. Your next payment will include two installments and also the penalty charge, thereby compounding the owable amount. 

Late payments can affect the financial position of people adversely. Make it a habit to pay all your dues on time. It will not only reduce your stress level but also help you avail of all the benefits mentioned above.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unforeseen shock for the Indian economy. The country is expected to experience a lengthy economic recession with extended lockdowns in several states. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak,  the global economic crisis, and subsequent instability in production and supply chains is also likely to be perpetuated.

How are the people of India affected?

Coronavirus has disrupted the lives of millions of Indians. Incomes have reduced and several people are experiencing a financial crunch, and as a result, it has become challenging for households as well. Many people have lost their jobs; many others are struggling to run their businesses.

Has the Government extended dates for filing ITR?

The world is not what it used to be since the Coronavirus outbreak. The virus has distorted the daily lives of millions of people across the globe. Social distancing, travel restrictions, work from home - are becoming the new normal. To gain customers' trust, companies should understand the buyers and their requirements in this unprecedented environment.

Why is maintaining customer relations essential?

Good customer relationships can help a company to grow. As with personal relationships, creating and nurturing customer relationships is essential as well. When organizations develop strong customer relationships, it can lead to loyal customers, positive word of mouth, and higher sales.

What are the customers expecting from you?

For your company’s long-term well-being, you should put the needs of your customers first. Customers will always prioritize their safety and that of their families. They expect businesses to understand their shopping style, keep essentials well-stocked, be treated as a valued customer, and get benefits even in these hard times.

How to maintain customer relations in the pandemic?

• Maintain hygiene: The safety of the customers should be the priority of any business concern. Therefore, businesses should keep their stores thoroughly sanitized. When a customer goes to the store, there should be provisions for social distancing and contactless operations to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

• Communicate with the customers: In the wake of the pandemic, everyone is in distress and fear. In such times, if a company can keep communicating with its customers, they will feel considered and cared for. By maintaining contact with its customers, the company can also stay informed about the customers’ needs and wants through feedback, thereby stocking inventory accordingly.

• Make them feel special and valued: By storing customer information such as important dates, companies can surprise their customers with gift vouchers, coupons, gift hampers for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. They can even send over medicines for the aged family members of the customers. Such little things can increase customer loyalty.

• Understand what customers are looking for: Businesses can identify the needs and wants of its customers through research and surveys.

• Added benefits: In these hard times, companies can give their customers free masks and sanitizers with the items they purchase.

It is important for a company to bear in mind the immediate needs of its customers during the Coronavirus crisis. By maintaining strong customer relationships, companies can ensure sustainability and brand loyalty while running their businesses in these challenging times.

Coronavirus pandemic has impacted millions of people around the world. The virus has also affected lakhs of people in India, leading to several lockdowns to curtail the transmission of the virus.

These lockdowns have severely affected various sectors throughout India, chief among these being the restaurant industry. If the coronavirus pandemic lasts for a long period, people may get habituated with the idea of not dining out, which will inevitably take the industry longer to recover.

In India, the restaurant industry has faced numerous challenges because of the COVID-19 outbreak: the end of group dining at restaurants, protecting the health of both the employees and the customers, following the safety regulations laid down by the Government, working with a limited number of workers, running expenditure without revenues to match, etc.

Restaurants can address these challenges by actioning the following:

• Focus on takeaways: Group dining has become a thing of the past due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this situation, focusing on building the business via takeaways would be a wise decision. This would promote social distancing and would prevent the virus from spreading while ensuring operations are sustained.

• Collaboration: Restaurants can collaborate to benefit from each other’s strengths. This would not only reduce cost but also increase the number of customers (combining the customers of both the restaurants). The merged restaurant can prepare their best dishes (for which they are famous) and focus their efforts on selling these (which would also result in zero wastage). Collaboration would also help in merging the workforce and have more people available for extensive cleaning and door-to-door delivery.

• Social media marketing: With the onset of COVID-19, traditional marketing wouldn’t prove to be fruitful. On the contrary, it will be expensive. Owing to the lockdowns, people are getting time to surf on social media. Thus, social media marketing would catch their attention. Restaurants will also be able to connect directly with their customers to build effective customer relationships.

• Opt for online food ordering: Since people cannot go to restaurants, the only way for these businesses to operate would be through food delivery. They can list themselves on Swiggy, Zomato or other food delivery aggregators to increase sales. They can even opt for food orders placed directly through phone calls. This would reduce costs and create a revenue stream.

• Create a social awareness program: The restaurants can create a social awareness program around frontline healthcare workers of COVID-19 by supplying them food. Apart from the element of social service, this can also be marketed or advertised on social media and other digital platforms to create goodwill amongst customers.

• Follow the norms laid down by WHO on hygiene: There are operational challenges in the wake of the pandemic. To overcome those, restaurants should maintain hygiene by extensively using hand sanitizers. They should bear in mind that food safety should be their priority. The working stations should be wiped down at regular intervals using a bleach solution. The executives and valets should be cautious during food delivery and opt for contactless payments.

Construct a school building

Buy school furniture

Build school laboratories

Facilitate transportation

Buy new teaching devices

Develop the school campus

Here’s how the benefits of these loans unfold:

Enable improvements in infrastructure and purchase of new teaching equipment

Invigorate interest in admissions

Collection of more fees

• Be a private school with fully functional classes from LKG to VIII/X/XII grade
• Be run by promoters or a trust
• Have an annual fee collection of more than Rs. 75 lakhs
• Have the school building on its own property