The garment industry, which is reeling under a severe cash crunch, has recovered Rs 400 crores in the last three months from retailers who had defaulted on payment due to weak demand. The Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India (CMAI) has formed a separate committee to negotiate with retailers and recover dues. The association has also formed a system to alert members on the credit profile of buyers so that they do not fall prey to wilful defaulters.

CMAI’s recovery committee has taken up long-pending cases and is negotiating recovery of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 crores. The domestic organised garment sector registered a growth of 12 per cent to Rs 44,800 crores last fiscal against a growth of seven per cent in fiscal 2013-14.

CMAI was entrusted with setting up 50 skill centers across India by March 2017 and train 35,000 workers. It has already opened 35 apparel training centers in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telengana and Maharashtra in the last four months. Centers are coming up at Vasai, Umargaon and Vapi-Daman. Skill centers are planned near the apparel industry so that trained people can be employed immediately.