Businesses worldwide have been battered by the Covid-induced economic crisis, but for the garment exporters in Noida and Greater Noida these are the worst of times. They claim to be fast losing business to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam — “over 20% orders have already been diverted to these countries”. With most factories now left with 40-50% workers, the Noida Apparel Export Cluster (NAEC) has claimed that international buyers are placing orders with other Asian countries. Some apparel manufacturers have been making PPE kits as a stopgap measure, but exporters claim they cannot sustain without major international orders. Noida and Greater Noida together have around 3,000 garment manufacturing units. “Most migrant workers left the city during the panchayat polls, while some left during Eid. Now there are more Covid cases in the villages and people want to return. But worker capacity in most factories has gone down to 40-50%. While no one has stopped work, things have slowed down,” NAEC president Lalit Thukral said. “International buyers on whom our exporters are dependent, are diverting orders to other Asian countries. We have already lost around 20% of business to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, we need to regularise the situation fast and bring workers back,” he added.
According to NAEC, many exporters are falling back on PPE manufacturing as a stop-gap activity, while some are just left with no orders to service. “This is not a substitute for the core business of garments. We are now finding ways to reassure workers to return to work. As an apparel cluster, we have organised our own oxygen bank. We have distributed oxygen concentrators,” he said. “For our workers, there are isolation wards and oxygen beds at factories. We have also created a facility for Covid-affected workers to borrow concentrators and return them after use. we urge the government to make vaccines available for workers, which would give them the confidence to rejoin,” he added. Thukral claimed that losing business at this time could result in long-term damage. “The western markets have revived and other garment manufacturing Asian countries are not as affected by Covid now as India is, so this year, there is a demand for readymade garments. We are losing out because there is concern among international buyers whether we will be able to deliver,” Thukral said.
