Re Impact: Textile may lose 5.8 lakh jobs in FY08

Stagnation of textile exports due to rupee appreciation against the US dollar would lead to a loss of around 5.79 lakh potential new jobs in the 2007-08 alone, including 2.72 lakh jobs in direct employment by the industry and the balance in the allied sectors, a study carried out by Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) stated.

A decline in exports, which is a possibility as of now, will impact employment in the sector negatively, and can even lead to loss of existing jobs, says the CITI study.

Releasing the study, CITI chairman, Shekhar Agarwal said, "Numbers show that while direct employment gained from textile exports has been reduced by 57,618 in 2006-07 consequent to a slow down in exports, the incremental employment in the allied industries suffered a loss of 65,820 jobs during the year."

The textile and clothing industry is the largest employment provider in the
country, after agriculture. The total direct employment in the textile
industry as of March 2006 is estimated to be 33.17 million, while the
indirect employment generated is even higher at 54.85 million.

According to recent estimates, the employment in the industry is expected to go up by 17.37 million over the Eleventh Plan period to touch 105.39 million by 2007-12.

CITI estimates show that the deceleration in textile export growth from
16.6% in 2005-06 to 9.2% in 2006-07 (based on the estimated
9.2% growth registered in the April-January 2006-07 period) has
already pushed down the employment from the textile export trade by around 1.22 lakh jobs.