Sports goods units in distress

Sports goods units of Jalandhar are struggling. The city has 90 per cent of the sports goods units of the state.

The attitude of the state government is largely to blame for this, and the high import duty on raw material.

According to sources, the high import duty on raw material and high freight in transporting products to Mumbai for export make the product almost 20 per cent dearer than Chinese sports goods

The Jalandhar sports industry, with about 400 units, exports goods worth nearly Rs 300 crore. The products are footballs; cricket bats and balls; hockey sticks; tennis, badminton and squash rackets; balls, soft leather goods, shuttle cocks, etc.

This industry is labour-intensive. Despite inadequate capital and technology, once it had reached a stage when it was reckoned as a major cottage industry, providing direct employment to about 10,000 workers and indirect employment to 40,000 workers.

Talking to Business Standard, Wasan Exports Director Satish Wasan said, "Although the revenue earned through exports has increased, the volume of export is on a declining trend."

The increase in revenue in terms of export is because of high input costs like raw material, and even freight has increased substantially."

He said, "We have to shell out Rs 15,000-18,000 towards freight from Jalandhar to Mumbai, if we want to exports. Although the government has introduced freight a equalisation policy to facilitate the exporter to compete with other states that are having sea ports near them, it has not been disbursed as yet."