India’s second-largest employer with almost 45 million direct jobs, the textile and apparel sector is facing several challenges since the past one year.
Garment factories across the country are noting a decline in work orders resulting in loss of jobs for lakhs of workers in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Tirruppur. Almost 40 per cent jobs in garment export units have been lost owing to work orders declining to 60 per cent, says PR Natarajan, General Secretary-Tiruppur, All India Trade Union Congress.
Garment factories in Bengaluru, meanwhile, are facing labor shortage as most laborers have switched to working at shopping malls and metro rail stations, quips VP Rukmini, President, Garment Workers’ Union
As per a study by the Textile Committee, nearly 2.14 lakh jobs in the sector have been lost owing to the decline in exports and rise in imports from 2015-2020.
The industry also lacks sufficient data on the impact of the slowdown on workers and wages in the post COVID years, including those on the cottage and micro industries; vast differences in labor profiles and systems between organised and unorganised sectors; migration of workers to better paying jobs if prospects do not improve for the textiles sector; and lower labor costs is other textile exporting nations affecting Indian exporters who compete on prices in the global market.
R. Karumalaiyan, National Secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions acknowledges, annual submission of data for the industrial surveys is poor as there is a lack of unionisation in the industry. Nevertheless, the sector needs to address its workers’ issues to ensure a speedy revival.
