Ludhiana hosiery industry facing uncertainties

Ludhiana, Oct 3 : The Ludhiana hosiery industry fears that uncertain conditions in various parts of the country would badly hit its business, and derail it from meeting the expected growth target.

With a turnover of about Rs 4000 crores, the hosiery industry of Ludhiana is famous all over the world for its low cost and quality products.

During 2008-09, the industry had done extremely well and registered a turnover of Rs 4000 crore as the conditions in the country were extremely favourable.

The uncertainty prevailing in the country at the moment due to floods, tension in Jammu and Kashmir and disturbances in Orissa and Karnataka, and the threat posed by the Chinese goods have cast a shadow on the health of the hosiery industry in Ludhiana.

"The coming times are not very favourable for the hosiery industry. This is due to various reasons. Firstly, floods have hit many parts of the country. Second, many problems have afflicted various states like in Kashmir," said Suraj Mohan Gupta, the owner of companion hosiery.

Other internal and external factors are also acting as impediments in the growth of hosiery business.

"If the rates of yarn had not increased; there weren't too many power cuts. The shortage of labour could have been met from outside, in that case we could have met the expected target of Rs 5000 crore. We will not be able to increase sales by 20 per cent," said K.K. Goyal, owner of K.K. Knitwear.

The business community expects the government to impose antidumping duty on the Chinese products to fight the threat posed by these goods. They expect that the government would come to their rescue.

There are about 15000 small and medium enterprises in Ludhiana. They employ a workforce of about 400,000. The total turn over of the hosiery industry in Ludhiana including domestic and international trade is about Rs 6000 crores.

ANI