Textile industry facing acute labour shortage: Assocham

Industry body Assocham yesterday expressed concern over the massive challenge the textile and clothing industry is facing in mobilising additional workers to fulfill production requirements, with many workers moving to well-paying jobs in other sectors.

The near-crisis situation comes at a time when the competitive edge that India enjoyed in the export markets is being blunted as input costs rise, amid stiff competition from neighbouring nations including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China, according to an Assocham release.

The chamber said, an online and phone survey it conducted last week with heads of 100 textile firms in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, has revealed that there was an urgent need to initiate immediate steps to remedy the situation. 

The survey revealed that around 45 per cent of the units were utilising only 50 to 60 per cent of production capacity due to labour shortage.

Around 30 per cent of the respondents said their margins were shrinking as they were not able to meet sale targets and around 15 per cent of those polled said they were contemplating shifting their  focus on brand building.

Another 10 per cent of them said they may soon move production units to the interior areas where workers were available at lower wages.