Indian exports blacklisted for using child labour

Ahmedabad, Jun 14: 2011 is India's third consecutive year for being blacklisted by the US government for engaging child labour in its garment export industry. India was named in the Executive Order List though the exporters left no stone unturned to convince the US authorities. This isssue has raised doubts on the future risk deals with global brands.

Rajendra Hinduja, MD of Bangalore-headquartered Gokaldas Exports sai that whenever they engage in business deals with the global brands, they face the problem of proving themselves not guilty.

A mention in the Executive Order 13126 List would throw challenges for the $11.16-billion Indian garment export industry as sensitive Western consumers are known to boycott goods that are produced in sweatshops.India contributes 3% to global apparel trade and gets 30% of its business from US consumers.

The current list was published by the US Department of Labour on May 31, 2011. In an earler survey, it had been revealed that around Rs 1,20,000 crore is profitted out of child labour as government's income to evade raxes.

According to the NGO's records, currently there are six crore child labourers. "Forget engaging in trade with the US government, being labeled as a child labour employing industry would cause serious impediment to our future business," says Sudhir Dhingra, the CMD of Orient Craft, an exporter who has 26,000 workers on roll across 23 facilities in NCR and Rajasthan.

OneIndia News