Taking the Temperature Report #02

Author: British Council, FICCI and the Art X Company·16 Sep 2025

Topics

Financial Management

Health and Safety

Legal and Policy

Reporting and Evaluation

As the COVID-19 pandemic came in waves and continued to affect the creative economies of countries across the world, the British Council, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Art X Company released the second survey to test the temperature of the culture sector in India. This is the second report on the deepening impact of COVID-19 on the creative economy in India.

While the first report provided a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 from March to June 2020, this second report reflected on the depth of the crisis in the creative economy up to October 2020. The study set out comparisons with the first report on the significant scale and extent of the impact of COVID-19 and contraction of the creative industries in India. It signals that during the pandemic, the creative industries continued to face a very uncertain future.

Authors: British Council, the Art X Company and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry

Also Read: Taking the Temperature Report #01 and Report #03 to explore the full trajectory of the pandemic’s impact on India’s creative economy.

Key Findings

67% of surveyed respondents are uncertain that they can survive for more than a year with current resources and funding.
Individual professionals and artisans are facing a short-term hand-to-mouth existence even as sectors are adapting to digital and live business models to stay afloat.
90% of the sector fears the long-term impact of social distancing on the creative economy, an increase of 4% from the previous survey.
The creative economy is contracting with 16% of the creative sector facing permanent closure.
Organisations are closing permanently to avoid bankruptcy, 22% of the sector is forecast to lose more than 75% of annual income.
26% of arts businesses fear they will not be able to continue in the last two quarters of 2020-2021.
Creative businesses are contending with increasingly difficult choices to remain resilient.
60% of the sector believes it will take from nine months to over a year for early signs of recovery for the creative economy.
Some of the workforces are leaving the creative economy and changing careers.

Launch of Taking the Temperature – Report 2