Jalandhar’s Rs 600 crore sports industry, which was reeling under a severe scarcity of export orders in the last fiscal year, expects positive growth in the current fiscal year.
The industry, which suffered a 25-40 per cent reduction in new orders from multinational sports goods brands in 2008-09, said that the past six months of the current fiscal have been good.
With the situation the world over improving by the day, it expects that the export of sports goods will gain momentum in the coming months.
Jalandhar accounts for 50-60 per cent of India’s sports goods exports, while the rest is contributed by Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) and other parts of India.
Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association chairman Raghunath Rana said, “Exports from Jalandhar were badly affected between August 2008 and January 2009, due to a reduction in orders. Rupee appreciation against the Australian dollar and pound sterling also affected exports during the period. The rupee has appreciated against the pound and the Australian dollar by 15-20 per cent since August last year.” He added: “However, things have started improving.”
Exporters suffered losses due to currency fluctuation, as they normally carry out invoicing for export orders in Australian dollars or pound sterling, as these currencies earlier used to be less volatile compared to the US dollar.