Recycled wool units on the decline in Panipat

The Rs 1,000-crore shoddy (recycled or remanufactured wool) spinning units of Panipat in Haryana, which were flourishing in 1990s, are now facing a tough time.

The reasons being people shifting from shoddy to mink blankets, high custom duty and electricity cost.

The shoddy industry believes that if concrete measures are not taken by the state government, the industry might suffer losses rendering thousands of people unemployed.

Shoddy industry had picked up sharply in Panipat during the 1990s. In fact, Panipat town has the maximum number of shoddy spinning units in the World. There are more than 314 shoddy spinning units in the district with production of nearly 400,000 kgs per day. Panipat manufactures almost 80 per cent of the shoddy in the country.

Apart from catering to the domestic market, the shoddy blankets manufactured here are also exported to Afghanistan, Kenya and Switzerland through Red Cross.

All India Woollen & Shoddy Mills Association President Pawan Garg said, "There are many reasons behind that. Shoddy blanket is manufactured from rags, a major portion of the rags is imported. Earlier, there was significant price difference between the original and the recycled fibre. Now the original fibre has become quite cheap. As a result the finished product also became cheaper. So, majority customers opt for the blanket which is made from original fibre which is of better quality as compared with shoddy."

"Also, five years ago the custom department had fixed 32 cents per kg as flat rate for taxation purposes for imports (rags). It was high even at that time. We demand that it should be rationalised and the department should revise the rates and it should be taxed on an average and not at flat rates," he added.

In order to reduce the input costs, he demanded that Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Panipat which has been already notified for imports should be made functional.

He said, "The load at ICD, Delhi is very high and often we have to pay demmurage charges which adds to input costs, further it makes the shipment delay. On the behalf on industrialists, he also demanded that the power tariff should be made at par with Uttar Pradesh, in which the weavers are charged a flat rate of Rs 130 per month for the 1 HP loom, on the other hand the weavers of Panipat have to shell out Rs 4.70 per unit."