Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the impact of rising costs is now being felt in Gujarat’s textile hub Surat. Many units have either reduced their daily working hours or reduced their active production days. Some officials claimed that the industry is currently incurring a loss of around Rs 100 crore every day. Surat city is one of the largest centers of production of man-made clothes in India. The South Gujarat Textile Processors Association has decided to reduce the working days of these units from seven to five days a week to control rising costs. Association president Jitendra Vaktaniya said that due to rising prices of raw materials and coal, the textile processing industry of Surat and South Gujarat is facing a crisis.
Loss of Rs 100 crore daily
Ashok Jirawala, President of Federation of Gujarat Weavers Welfare Association and Vice President of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that many units have also reduced their production cycle from 24 hours to 12 hours per day, due to which the overall production has been affected. He said that the situation has become very difficult, and the industry is incurring a loss of around Rs 90-100 crore every day. This crisis has been further aggravated by the shortage of labourers. According to industry estimates, the number of workers has decreased by 35 percent. Jirawala said that more than 2,000 migrant laborers have left the city in the last few weeks. Earlier, due to shortage of cooking gas cylinders, migration of workers had started, which put even more pressure on the work.
production halved
He said that the prices of imported raw materials including man made fiber have also increased by 30-35 percent. Vaktaniya said that work in all these sectors – weaving, processing and trading – has declined by 25-30 percent. He said that despite the current recession, the coming wedding season is expected to increase demand and provide some relief to the sector. Champalal Bothra, national president of the Confederation of All India Traders, said that before the international crisis, the industry produced about seven crore meters of cloth daily. But now the production has reduced to almost half.
It may take 3 months
He said that even after the conflict subsides and factors like yarn prices and availability of labor stabilize, the industry may take two to three months to get back on track. Gujarat Deputy CM Harsh Sanghvi recently held a review meeting with industry leaders in Surat and assured adequate supply of five-kilogram LPG cylinders for workers.