‘Labour crisis, lack of government support hit hosiery industry hard’

INDUSTRY & UNLOCK 1.0

Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana, June 12

Trinity Overseas at Bajwa Nagar, Ludhiana, is engaged in manufacturing of hosiery goods, including t-shirts, gents lowers. Anil Ahuja, owner of Trinity Overseas, says the hosiery industry has gone through many ups and downs in the past, but the Covid1-19 has brought a lot of challenges that we never thought of. He said the industry had faced massive losses due to the lockdown owing to the Covid-19. He said there were more than 10,000 small and medium hosiery manufacturers, and all these manufacturing units had suffered losses in crores.

Even after lifting of the lockdown, labour crisis and lack of government support was likely to deepen the wounds of the hosiery industry.

The industrial units have resumed operations after the government announced Unlock 1.0, but the work is moving at a very slow pace. The industry has suffered a lot due to the Covid-19 crisis and it will take months to recover from the losses suffered during the lockdown. The lockdown was necessary as per the situation arisen before the country, but its impact is visibly seen. Now several units have started but with limited resources.

How are you tackling issues related to the labour?

More than 4-5 lakh labourers have left the industrial city to go back to their native places, which has badly hit the industry. We are facing acute shortage of labour. We have no option but to work with the less labour, which would resultantly hit the production and profitability too. We hope that in the next two months, the labour would come back and this crisis of labour would come to an end.

What major problems are you facing now?

Payments are stuck in the market. A majority of hosiery goods are sold on credit basis. This is a general practice, barring exceptions in hot-selling items. When we ask for payments, general answer is that the market is tight and we will have to wait. We are hardly meeting our expenses. The expenditure is much more than the income. We have started getting orders, but a majority of buyers want it on credit and we are already facing a tough situation. If we will stop all supplies to previous customers, the collection of outstanding amounts is likely to suffer.

Has hosiery industry got any relief from the government?

We have not got any support from the state government or the Centre. No actual relief package was given as done by several countries. The 20-lakh crore stimulus package announced by the Central Government was merely an eyewash. The small and medium hosiery units have got no benefit from this package. Giving more loans was no solutions. Rather it would put the industry under more debt. The industry was unable to pay the EMI of prevailing loans and bank officers were making phone calls for monthly instalments, failing which our accounts would be put under NPA category.

What are your expectations from the government to boost the industry?

There was a dire need of waiving off accruing interest on bank loans for a period of six months. Bank officers should be directed not to harass the account holders. Due to shutting of the industry and non-receipt of outstanding payments, how will we pay loan instalments with interest? The state government should waive off the outstanding electricity bills to enable the industry to work in congenial atmosphere. Apart from this, other taxes should also be waived off.