NEW DELHI: Industry body NRAI, or the national restaurant association of India, on Sunday urged mall owners and landlords to waive off rentals for three months and adopt a revenue share model for six months amidst the countrywide lockdown, in an open letter.

The industry, with an annual turnover of over Rs 4 lakh crore and direct employee base of over seven million, is in a fighting a grim battle for its basic survival amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, the association said.

“We aren’t trying to profiteer at the expense of the landlords. As long-standing business partners, we are hopeful that landlords will extend their support in these times of unprecedented crisis,” NRAI president Anurag Katriar said.

He said the business model of the industry is such that the proportion of fixed operating expenses is “very high-risk”. “Now with the prospect of zero revenues staring at us for a substantial period of time, our fight is a battle to retain our existence as commercial entities,” he said in the letter.