Raw cotton transport, yarn production hit during lockdown, say

The textile trade, particularly the hosiery sector, is in a crisis as production of yarn in factories came to a halt in the wake of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, industry experts said on Saturday.

They said transportation of raw cotton, mostly grown in Maharashtra and Gujarat, to spinning mills is also a major problem now.

"Raw cotton is available in Gujarat and Maharashtra. As the spinning mills are closed due to the lockdown, production of yarn has been greatly affected," hosiery manufacturing company Dollar Industries MD Vinod Kumar Gupta told PTI.

He said labourers, who were staying nearby factories and elsewhere, have gone to their native villages and home towns, following the coronavirus scare.

Not only cotton, the entire textile industry across the country is hit as factories are shut during the lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Gupta said.

"Labourers migrated to their home towns. Nobody knows how long the lockdown will continue. Next five to seven days will be crucial," he said.

Another fabric manufacturing company, BSL Limited's chairman and Managing Director Arun Churiwal, whose factory is located in Rajasthan, stated that it is not the cotton industry only, the entire textile sector has been bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis.

There has been a bumper crop of cotton this October, but the problem is lack of buyers.

"Godowns are full. Yarn is not being produced and dispatched. So production of finished products and sales are also not happening," he told PTI.

This is a problem for the whole textile industry, Churiwal added.

RBI has given certain relaxations in working capital norms, he said, adding that it will give "the industry a breather".

Churiwal also urged the textiles ministry to provide assistance from the Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) scheme to overcome the crisis and demanded immediate release of GST refund to the textile industry.