To support the local administration have control over COVID-19, India’s leading apparel manufacturing hub Tirupur has decided to voluntarily close factories from 14 May, 6 PM to 24 May, 4 AM.
Leading apparel trade body Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) took this decision for the good of the society.
The TEA also held a meeting with local administration in this regard. The factories will complete the orders in progress by 14 May.
“We tried our best to keep running the industry in cooperation with the district administration with all health protocol in place, but unfortunately the surge in COVID cases disturbed the tranquility of entire Tirupur,” TEA said in a message to its members.
Industry believes that this step will support the common cause of containing the menacing pandemic. Nothing has been said about the wage and salary of staff during this period.
Tirupur is the number one knitted apparel cluster of India and houses nearly six lakh workers, and with the export market taking a major hit in the last one year the manufacturing units have turned towards the domestic market for survival.
According to TEA, the domestic market turned buoyant as more Indians preferred leisure wear for their WFH, pushing the sales of T Shirts and track bottoms, a key category manufactured in Tirupur. And for the first-time domestic sales outpaced the export sales at Rs. 30,000 crore in the last fiscal, while exports decreased to Rs. 27,280 Crore in 2019-20 against Rs. 27,650 crore recorded in 2018-19.
The urgency to shut operations is highlighted by a report published in The Hindu, which claims that amidst rise in COVID-19 cases in Tirupur, hospitals in the region have been grappling with shortage of beds for patients. However, so far 1.5 lakh people have been vaccinated in Tirupur.