The Hindu Business Line : Labour shortage hits Tirupur hosiery industry

WHILE the bountiful rainfall in most parts of Tamil Nadu in the past one year has brought cheers to the farming community and lifted the rural economy, it has unsettled the business plans of the hosiery industry in Tirupur, which is facing acute labour shortage.

The shortage is more hurting because it has come at a time when the industry is in need of more hands as it has gone in for capacity expansion after the end of the quota regime. This has led to some of the key players in the industry putting off their expansion/fresh investment plans. Speaking to Business Line, Mr R. Sivaram, Executive Director, Royal Classic Mills (P) Ltd, belonging to the Rs 225-crore Royal Classic group, said since last Diwali, there has been an "acute shortage of workforce" in Tirupur. Post-WTO quota regime, everybody has expanded the manufacturing capacity but the industry has not trained any new workforce to meet the demands of capacity expansion.

Most of the workers of the hosiery units were from districts such as Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Ramanathapuram etc. After a gap of four or five years, last year's rainfall was so bountiful, that about 10 per cent of the workers, hailing from these districts, who had gone to their native places had not come back for work.He said the sudden explosion of job opportunities has only accentuated the problem. For instance, the opening of the Nethaji Apparel Park at New Tirupur near Avanashi had created on a single day 22,000 jobs. When asked how the industry planned to meet the tight delivery schedule in the context of labour shortage, Mr Sivaram said one option was to shift some facilities from Tirupur to places where workers were available. The other option was to establish training facilities in Tirupur and bring potential workers from other districts for training and eventual employment in Tirupur itself.

He said in his own company's case, an allocation of Rs 6 crore has been made for expansion. But he was waiting for the labour situation to improve. He said the buyers were ready to increase the orders and the funds were available and he was hopeful of initiating steps in this regard in the next three or four months.

The company plans to add 400 sewing machines but because of the sudden labour shortage the decision has been kept on hold for a while.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page