Garments Industry Strike Today.

MUMBAI: One of India's leading export baskets, the garment industry , is going on a nation-wide strike on Friday. Manufacturers and exporters of textile and apparel products, who bring in earnings of more than Rs 50,000 crore annually through their shipments, are observing the token strike to highlight their plight due to an unprecedented rise in raw material prices.

The strike, which would be pan- India , would see manufacturing activity in Bhiwandi, Asia's largest handloom cluster, come to a standstill, while a temporary halt in production would also be seen among hosiery manufacturers in West Bengal and textile and apparel clusters in Coimbatore , Tirupur, Ludhiana , Ahmedabad , Bangalore, Delhi and NCR region, said Premal Udani, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council.

The manufacturers are seeking government intervention to check the rise in prices of cotton and yarn products, which has almost doubled in nine months. According to the AEPC, price of 40s combed cotton yarn for hosiery, a widely-used category, has risen from Rs 185 per kg in August, to a record Rs 240 per kg. As a result, fabric prices have also shot up by 38% to 90%, leading to higher prices for apparel products.

"The future of the Indian apparel industry is at stake and if necessary action is not taken, millions will be jobless in the country," said Mr Udani. "As an immediate step, we seek rationalisation of cotton yarn prices through calibrated exports and other measures."

The garment sector is one of the most labour-intensive industries of India and employs 35 million people. It has sought a 60-day ban on yarn export to soften domestic yarn prices.

Leading industry players such as Arvind Mills, Alok Industries , Gokaldas Exports, Mandhana Industries while extending support to the strike, said they will not close manufacturing.

Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman of the Ahmedabad-based textile major Arvind Mills, says a ban on cotton export has led to increase in yarn exports to the countries like China and Bangladesh, who are already reeling under the shortage of cotton yarn. "While we are supporting the strike, we will not shut manufacturing. Yarn exporters are playing on arbitrage opportunities of cotton prices between international and domestic prices, creating artificial shortage in the domestic market," he added.

When ET contacted textile commissioner A B Joshi, he declined to comment on the issue. The office of the textile commissioner is the advisory body for cotton and yarn prices and also for the registration of textile exporters.

The AEPC said the government must ban cotton yarn exports for a certain period to give leg room for domestic producers . Rahul Mehta, president of Clothing Manufacturers Association of India said: "Export of cotton yarn has created artificial demand-supply gap in the domestic market and has triggerred a price rise."

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com