Slowdown bites industry in Haryana; demand down 80%, 95k lose jobs: Report

From Rohtak to Bahadurgarh and Sonipat to Panipat, production at industrial units badly hit, says a media report

Demand for industrial products in the national, as well as global markets has steadily come down amid an economic slowdown in the western nations. This has resulted in the industrial units in Haryana taking a big hit.

In Rohtak, the orders for automobile parts and nut-bolts from the local markets have come down by 80 per cent, while in Panipat, the foreign textiles business has come down by 50 per cent, a report by Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar stated. 

While export orders have come down to Rs 8,000 crore annually from Rs 20,000 crore, exporters now send two containers in a week instead of ten containers previously, the report added. 

Meanwhile, the domestic market of over Rs 90,000 crore has now come down to Rs 54,000 crore. Dyeing units have also been mostly shut down as the textile sector has witnessed nearly 75,000 job losses while almost 90,000 people have taken a salary cut of 40 per cent, DB reported.

While the industry, which works for six days a week, is currently working five days, discussions on reducing it to only four days a week are also happening.

Nearly 20,000 people in the textile industry in Sonipat have lost their jobs, the report stated. 

Due to inflation in the US and the Russia-Ukraine war, the export of home furnishing has come to a standstill, exporter Vinod Dhamija, custodian exporter of the Old Industrial Area Manufacturers Association, told the Hindi daily. This resulted in more than 30 per cent of the employees leaving the industry, and those who were retained took a salary cut, he added. 

The dyeing unit has been running for only five days now, while due to the burning of the furnace, three shifts have been reduced to two, Dyers Association president Bhim Singh Rana told DB, adding that due to less work, a four-day work week is being considered.

In Sonipat, the medicine, food, and steel industries' businesses are hit as many are working one shift instead of two. This has led to 20,000 job losses. 

Nischal Paruthi, a member of the Small-Scale Manufacturing Industrial Association, told DB that the raw material has also become four times more expensive. 

Automobile parts and nut bolts from Rohtak are exported to 10 countries, but the demand for goods in the local auto market has dropped to 15-20 per cent, while the prices for raw materials have doubled, the DB report stated. Due to this, industrialists have stopped making goods. 

A big exporter of automobiles and metals, Rewari, in July too only got a third of the export orders. The companies in Rewari have laid off 300-1400 contract employees even as metal prices have fallen by up to 25 per cent.