Surat’s textile hub is facing an unprecedented crisis, with sales hitting all-time lows and over 70 processing and dyeing units having to close shops. Surat is home to the largest synthetic market in the country, housing over 75,000 textile traders producing over 4.5 crore metres of cloth every day, across around 400 processing units and 8.5 lakh powerlooms.
“We are seeing a lot of difficulty in domestic sales. Inflation is impacting Surat’s textile market – because of inflation, clothes become the last thing people buy. Production is a lot, but sale is the problem,” said Manoj Agarwal, President of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association.
The two big problems plaguing the industry seem to be the rising prices of coal and the low demand from consumers.
Jitu Vakharia, President of South Gujarat Textile Processors Association said, “Earlier the coal cost was Rs. 1 per metre. Today nothing is less than Rs. 2.5-3.25 per metre of cloth – irrespective of whether it is ordinary cloth or high scale. Earlier we used to get coal on credit, but now we have to pay in advance or against delivery.”
He also said that changing fashion trends have also hampered demand. The shift from traditional sarees to readymade garments have affected the textile industry in Surat. This leads to the manufacturers having to re-skill their workers and their hope is that the Government will step in and help them in this endeavour.
Champalal Bothra, General Secretary of FOSTTA said, “Our needs are – skilled labour, R&D for new fabric etc. For small traders, we included them in MSMEs – but the benefits for them aren’t there. When they go to take a loan, they are told to give some mortgage, so they don’t get easy loans.”
The textile industry in Surat has, for the past five years, urged the Government to set up a garment hub so that the industry can be pivoted towards making readymade garments.
