New Delhi, May 24 (IANS): India's retail trade lost business of around Rs 9 lakh crore during the past 60 days of the nationwide lockdown, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said.

In a statement, the traders' body also said that in the past week since the restrictions were eased on Monday, only about 5 percent of the business could take place and 8 percent of the workforce were able to resume.

It further said that the loss of business also resulted in a revenue loss of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore to both Central and state governments on account of GST.

"The traders across the country are facing acute financial crunch and in absence of any policy support from the government are most worried about the future of their business," it said.

About 5 lakh outstation traders used to come to Delhi to procure goods from wholesale markets of Delhi but due to non-availability of transport, the wholesale markets in Delhi remained deserted in last one week, said the statement.

The shortage of labour, non-availability of transport and negligible footfall of customers is leading to acute financial crunch for traders and may also kill the retail trade of the country involving nearly seven crore traders providing employment to 40 crore people and generating an annual turnover of about Rs 50 lakh crore.

"The crisis has further deepened because of utter neglect of traders both by Central and state governments in matter of hand-holding," it said.