BigBasket.com $($BigBasket$),$ an online grocery store in India, saw a $900\%$

surge in orders within a span of one month in April $2020.$ This was during a

time when the entire country was under complete lockdown to curb the

spread of the deadly Coronavirus Disease $2019($COVID$-19).$

COVID$-19$ was spreading across the globe like wildfire from the beginning of

the year $2020.$ Since it was a contagious disease with no treatment in sight,

there were global restraints on travel and any kind of movement. The first

case of COVID$-19$ in India was reported in January $2020.$ By March $2020,$

India was well in the grip of the deadly virus. The Indian government sprang

into action and declared lockdowns and curbs on travel. Initially, the

lockdown was declared for $21$ days, ending on April $14,2020.$ But it was

extended several times. The lockdown, however, allowed essential services

including delivery of medicines and groceries to function.

The year $2020$ was marked by a pandemic that affected the entire world.

COVID$-19$ spread to almost every country across the globe. By May $06,$

$2020,$ more than $3$ million people had been affected globally by the virus and

there were $258,394$ reported deaths. India reported $49,436$ people infected

and $1,695$ deaths.

COVID$-19$ was a communicable disease caused by the coronavirus. People

infected with the virus experienced respiratory illness. Covid$-19$ was closely

related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome $($SARS $)$ and the Middle

East Respiratory Syndrome $($MERS $),$ which had caused havoc in several

countries earlier. COVID$-19$ was different from SARS and MERS in that the

scope of disease was wide. Around $80\%$ of people had mild symptoms

whereas there were also many infected people who showed no signs of the

infection. This made it difficult to control the spread of the disease $.$ By May

$2020,$ the total number of people affected globally by COVID$-19$ was

$4,943,000$ and $6\mathrm{.}5\%$ of them were reported to have died.

On January $30,2020,$ India$$s first COVID$-19$ case was reported $.$ The

infected person was a student from Kerala who was studying at Wuhan

University and had come home for the vacations. Initially, the virus was

detected only among those who had returned from China. But soon people

with a travel history to Europe also started reporting the disease as the virus

had several European nations in its grip. Experts believed that lockdowns

were an effective way to curb the spread of COVID$-19$ but there were also

concerns regarding the lack of preparations regarding the supply of food,

medicine, and other essential items under the lockdown. Since there was no

prior information about the lockdown, supply chains were broken, leading to

concerns regarding the livelihoods of many people.

BigBasket, an online grocery delivery service in India, was launched in the

year $2011$ by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh, and

Abhinay Choudhari. Headquartered in Bengaluru, its key investors included

Alibaba, Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Abraaj

Group, and LionRock Capital. The convenience and wide range of products

that came with online shopping helped BigBasket in increasing its customer

base. It also introduced services like BBDaily which worked like a

subscription service for daily delivery of eggs, milk, bread, and other

essentials. Its major competitors included Amazon, Grofers, and Flipkart.

BigBasket decided to suspend its services from March $24,2020,$ after many

of its delivery executives complained about being beaten up by police as well

as harassed by some local goons. On March $25,2020,$ BigBasket put up a

notification on its website stating, $$Dear customer, we are not operational

due to restrictions imposed by local authorities on the movement of goods in

spite of clear guidelines provided by central authorities to enable essential

services. We are working with the authorities to be back soon With the

threat of the virus looming large, there were lockdowns across the country

and humongous uncertainty on what the turn of events would be$,$ going

ahead., With so much uncertainty, people resorted doing everything from

bulk buying $($Exhibit III$)$ to online shopping $($Exhibit IV$)$ to ensure their safety

and to brace themselves up for difficult times.

Due to the surge in demand and some governmental restrictions, BigBasket

had a huge backlog of orders. It needed more delivery executives to clear the

backlog. The delivery executives of BigBasket stated that the company was

toiling to gather resources to drive vehicles and to bring goods from

warehouses.