Sunday was a disappointing day for Gurcharan Singh, a 52-year-old who has been selling shirt materials in Ludhiana’s historic textile market for over three decades. Hoping for a better day today, he joins the throngs of men, women, and children flooding the streets of Chaura Bazaar, the nerve centre of Ludhiana’s textile industry for the past two centuries.
However, the once-bustling market is losing its appeal, as Rajwant Maan, a long-time buyer, laments. The market struggles to keep up with the latest global trends, with young people opting to shop at malls offering reasonable prices and trendy fashion.
Ludhiana, a textile hub worth 20,000 crores in Punjab, accounts for over 90 per cent of India’s domestic apparel production. Yet, the sector – primarily comprising micro and small businesses – has faced consecutive setbacks in recent years, including demonetization, the Goods and Services Tax implementation, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Sudarshan Jain, the president of the Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers Association of Ludhiana, warns that the city’s small and medium industry-based production has been dealt successive blows. The industry also suffers from the influx of cheap imports from countries like Bangladesh, China, and Vietnam.
Industrial production data for August reveals a decline in the apparel sector, falling below the levels of August 2011-12 when the new data series began. This disruption in the supply side has also affected exports, with Indian readymade garment exports decreasing by nearly 15 per cent during April-September 2023 compared to the corresponding period last year. Exports from Punjab have witnessed an almost 18 per cent decline in the same time frame.
Moreover, the distress in Ludhiana’s textile industry has created hardships for the nearly one million migrant workers engaged in the value chain. The festive season, which traditionally provided decent earnings and allowed them to return home in March, now leaves them struggling to make ends meet due to reduced income and increased living expenses.
Harish Dua, founder chairman of KG Exports, highlights the industries’ struggle to compete with China and Southeast Asian neighbours due to the lack of skilled labour and outdated machinery. Dua emphasizes the need for research and development facilities, training clusters, affordable housing, and transportation to address these issues.
To boost the sector’s competitiveness, the central government has launched the PM MITRA (Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) scheme with a substantial investment of around 70,000 crores. The scheme aims to create an integrated textiles value chain, from spinning and weaving to garment manufacturing. However, Punjab’s exclusion from the selected states under the scheme is a blow to Ludhiana’s textile industry, as it misses out on an opportunity to consolidate and enhance its competitiveness.
As the industry and market continue to face challenges, stakeholders express concern about the future prospects of the once-thriving textile economy in Ludhiana. The resilient spirit of the market’s participants persists, but urgent measures are needed to revive and safeguard the city’s textile heritage and economic backbone.
