Barely 24 hours into PM Modi’s address to the nation on the 21 day-lockdown, shelves at many grocery stores began to empty out as people started stocking up in panic.

The COVID-19 outbreak has increased sales of packaged food, personal and home care personal care and hygiene products but firms making those are struggling to produce and deliver them because of manpower and transportation challenges.

“As a result of lockdown there was a huge amount of panic buying and hoarding of stocks that happened. People went out and bought biscuits which were ideal for this kind of situation because they have a longer shelf life and retain freshness for a longer period of time," says Mayank Shah, Senior Category Head, Parle Products.

But this increased demand also put pressure on the supply chain and production. Consumers had to deal with shortage as the movement of trucks to wholesale and retail centers got restricted.

Shah says, “There are three parts to this. When the lockdown was announced, the government said that the essentials would be out of it. When you say essentials there could be a broad spectrum of products. Permissions were given by the local administration and there was some kind of misunderstanding over there. There was no clarity. While most local administrations allowed us to start operations, there were certain places where they were wondering whether food, specially packaged food would fall under essentials or not.”

Shah says that despite the initial chaos, the government was quick respond and resolve the problem. “They ensured that the end-to-end supply chain from sourcing of raw material to distribution should be exempted.”

But then came the issue of packaging.

“When you talk about printed packing material, it would be exempted while coming to my factory. But what about the printer who is sourcing the film. How does one know whether it is a part of essential or not?”

This is when the next directive from the government came, telling state governments to ensure free movement of goods, both essential and non-essential.

Apart from ensuring a smooth supply chain, there were safety concerns as well.

Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive, Personal Care, ITC Limited says, “We have at one end a supply chain that encompasses the whole country. There are a number of people who are connected to one another. We are not only working in our factories but we are also working with the vendors to make their place secure. We are also working with authorities to reopen, open and facilitate movement of goods. There is a lot of work that is happening on ground.”

Shah said although the factories of the company and third party vendors are working with a much lesser workforce, Parle Products is "going all out and ensuring that they are available in the market in sufficient quantity so that there is no panic.

The COVID-19 crisis is also pushing companies to get innovative in reaching out to the consumers. ITC Ltd has partnered with Domino’s Pizza to deliver essential items such as wheat flour (atta) and spices to customers amid a 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of covid-19.

Customers wanting to avail the service need to use the “Domino’s Essentials" section on the Domino’s app to order ITC’s Aashirvaad brand of atta and spices. These will be supplied by Domino’s leveraging its pizza delivery network.

Satpathy says, “Whatever is required to serve our consumers, whatever is needed, we are doing that. There are people who are working day and night to make sure that consumers and society at large is served. We have to ensure that the consumer doesn’t have to buy 3 packs of whatever product when he actually needs one and he gets the assurance that it will be available the next day.”

The soaring demand for hand sanitizers following the coronavirus pandemic has made several companies -- from FMCG players such as Patanjali, Emami, Raymond Consumer Care and Dabur to liquor makers like Radico Khaitan and Diageo -- to venture into manufacturing of the disinfectant. CavinKare launched one rupee sanitizers in sachets, repeating what it did to the shampoo market decades back. The Chennai-based company is leveraging its production facilities for established Chik and Nyle brands of hair-care products, including shampoo and hair oils, to sanitizers on an immediate basis. ITC has repurposed its recently commissioned perfume manufacturing facility in Manpura, Himachal Pradesh to manufacture Savlon Hand Sanitisers.

Satpathy says, “There is a need and demand for sanitizers and people are consuming it at a much higher rate, the category was so small in India and suddenly everyone had to increase the supply to the market.”