Shanghai setback leaves Ludhiana's apparel industry staring at losses

Repeated supply shocks have brought the Rs 20,000-cr textile hub to its knees

Go to the narrow lanes of Ludhiana’s bustling Shahpur Road, and you will find them crammed with customers, salesmen and traders. But the seeming sense of normalcy in this crowded market for fabrics and garments belies the deep distress that the city’s textile industry finds itself in. Repeated supply shocks, the latest being the closure of the Shanghai port in China, have all but brought the industry to its knees.

Ludhiana, Punjab’s Rs 20,000-crore textile hub, accounts for more than 90 per cent of India’s apparel production for the domestic market. But for the last six years, it has been repeatedly