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Recession leave 4.5 m textile workers jobless

By FashionUnited

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Badly hit by the global recession, the Indian textiles industry

has seen many units closing down. Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) estimates that in the last couple of years, due to the closure of many manufacturing units along with economic slowdown, around 45 lakh textile workers have lost their jobs constituting 10 per cent of the approximately 40 million people employed in the industry. This includes weaving, spinning, apparel, handloom and handicraft sectors.

AEPC says that more than 125 cotton and man-made fiber textile mills have closed down in the last three years. Moreover, the existing textile companies are facing a huge setback in exports owing to slowdown in the US and Europe. This has forced the Indian textiles sector to bear high cost of credit and increase in raw material prices. The textiles and garments industry is the second-largest employer in India after agriculture. India exports about 50 per cent of the total production of textiles and garments of which 60 per cent is exported to the US and the European Union countries.

According to reports, the Indian textiles sector is under a debt of about Rs 1,000 billion and hence had appealed to the Reserve Bank of India to restructure loans. However, the government had agreed to restructure loans worth Rs 350 billion, providing some relief to the industry recently.





AEPC