August has brought some delight for the Indian apparel exporters, with each passing day of the month seeing improvement in order bookings.
However, the exporters are worried about the availability of workers as the migratory workers have still not come back to the factories in metro cities.
Though apparel manufacturing hubs have been somehow managing the production with the available workers, soon more workers will be required.
The industry is of the view that Government should help ensure a smooth journey of workers by trains from Northern Indian states to South India, so that workers can come back to the factories.
Raja M. Shanmugham, President, Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA), told Apparel Resources, “Yes now, overall conditions are improving and in coming days industry will require more workers. Without proper public transport, especially railways, it is not possible to have migratory workers back in hubs like Tirupur.
Garment manufacturers in Mumbai are also of the view that without starting the operation of local trains, garment factories or even offices can’t work smoothly.
It is pertinent to mention here that to bring back migratory workers, companies are offering higher wages, flats on concessional rates, etc., but keeping the pandemic in view and limited operations of railway, enough workers are not coming back to the factories.
