Apparel Online India Magazine September 1st Issue 2018 | Page 37

INDUSTRY LIVE
Kerala flood: Still work not back on track ‘properly'
The severe flood that has hit Kerala,
has affected its textile and apparel
industry too. Though Kerala is
not a strong hub for textile or
clothing, but it has a reasonable
size of the industry. Among the
top names of the industry, Kitex
Garments, India’s number one
kidswear export company, has
a unit in Kizhakkambalam near
Kochi. Though it has hostels for its
workers, but due to waterlogging
and power cut, its production has
been affected. It has nearly 20 per
cent workforce from Kerala across
all its units. Project Garments,
another good company of the
state, faced delay in shipments
due to huge absenteeism even
after normalcy returned in the
area after flood. “Out of our 120
workers, so far just 40 have come
to work. We were expecting that
workers will be back after Onam
festival, but till 27th August, even
less than 30 per cent workers
were back to work. Our shipments
have been delayed,” informed
Abraham, GM of the company.
Manoj, Branch Manager, IIGM,
Kochi shared, “Overall industry
suffered almost for one month
as the problem started on 14th
August and increased in next few
days. We are hopeful that by the
end of the first week of September,
things will again start moving
properly.” To support Kerala at
this time of disaster, the textile and
apparel industry has also come
forward. Some companies have
donated in relief funds, few have
come up with direct support. In
a tweet, Smriti Irani, Minister of
Textiles said that MoT mobilised
all textiles association, EPC and
As rains poured down
and rivers rose,
Homes washed away
to unknown shores,
The spirit remained
with head held high,
He looked ahead,
but not to sigh!
Yes, with a smile,
and hope kept alive!
This is us, we never say die,
But move forward,
When tides are high!
Apparel Online salutes this spirit!
textile units to contribute towards
relief operations. To mention a
few – Welspun, Kutch dispatched
more than 25,000 towels, Indo Count
Industries, Kohlapur sent more than
15,000 bed sheets, NTC arranged
more than 53,000 garments and
bedsheets, towels etc., and SIMA
contributed materials and funds
of more than Rs. 1 crore. Pratibha
Syntex Indore donated 9,000 pairs of
new clothes.
TEA's 28th AGM
concerned about
falling export
The 28th AGM of Tirupur
Exporters’ Association (TEA)
was recently organised in
Tirupur. Addressing the
AGM, Raja M Shanmugham,
President, TEA shared the
year long activities, efforts
and achievement of TEA.
He highlighted that apparel
industry has been facing a lot
of challenges in the business
environment, externally and
also domestically, which could
be mitigated with the help of
Government support and by also
efficiently running our units.
“The total apparel exports
from India clocked Rs. 1,07,679
crore in 2017-18 compared to
Rs. 1,16,508 crore achieved
in previous year 2016-17. The
all India knitwear exports in
2017-18 declined to Rs. 51,526
crore against Rs. 55,150 crore
recorded in 2016-17, a negative
growth of 7 per cent in terms of
Rupee and 3 per cent in dollar
terms. During this period,
Tirupur knitwear exports has
also come down from Rs. 26,000
crore to Rs. 24,000 crore and
the share of Tirupur Knitwear
exports was also more or
less maintained at the same
level, that is 46.58 per cent,”
Shanmugham said. He further
added that the most worrying
factor in the last financial year
was the continuous decline of
exports since October 2017, after
three months GST transition
period, till March 2018 and
during this period, from October
to March 2017-18, the knitwear
exports saw an unprecedented
fall, declining by 21 per cent,
from Rs.28,100 crore in t he
corresponding period in the
previous year 2016-17 to Rs.
22,317 crore in the present year.
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