The second wave has hit India’s garment manufacturers badly with many hosiery and knitwear manufacturers still struggling to revive after the lockdown in the past three months. As per K B Agarwala, Managing Director, Rupa, manufacturing hubs in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have been unable to revive 100 per cent due to restrictions on local travel for workers. This has caused demand supply gap in the industry

Supply has declined 50 per cent of normal levels, adds Agarwala. While demand is slowly reviving and restrictions are being eased too, normalcy is still a little while away for the sector. Raja Shanmugam, President, Tiruppur Exporters Association of Tamil Nadu opines, it may take two more months for production to revive completely as higher input costs are adding to the woes of the manufacturers. Repeated hikes in yarn and cotton prices have led companies to increase product prices by multiple times.

This is impacting profit margins as sales have declined 25 per cent as compared to the same time last year. This has also put India on the back foot in comparison to competitor markets as an export hub for major global brands like Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Ralph Lauren, etc who source mainly from Tiruppur.

Shanmugam explains, Indian companies missed providing samples for two seasons to global players in the past two months, so the buyers sourced products from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia. India lost out on orders for two upcoming seasons. Tiruppur hub has incurred losses worth Rs 10,000 crore and the West Bengal hub has seen a 50 per cent loss in last few months. However, domestic demand is expected to revive based on the severity of a probable third wave, adds Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries.