Low demand: Diwali vacations in textile industry from Oct 24

FOGWA president Ashok Jirawala said, “We have declared vacations for 10 to 12 days as there is no major demand in the market and it is not feasible for us to keep the factories functioning… But we cannot make it 20 days as workers will then go to their native places and it would be difficult to bring them back.”

According to industry data, around 4.50 crore metres of textile fabric is weaved in over 40,000 powerloom factories in Surat in 24 hours. Around 65 per cent of labourers working in the powerloom factories are from Odisha, while the remaining are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

SWA president Vijay Mangukiya said, “We demanded 20-day vacation as there is no major demand in the market. Longer vacation would benefit the powerloom industry. Several associations have supported our demand.”

The South Gujarat Textile Processing Association (SGTPA) has decided to keep the dyeing and printing mills closed for 15 days. There are around 340 dyeing and printing mills in Surat.

SGTPA president Jitubhai Vakharia said, “We decided to declare holiday for 15 days as there is no major demand in the market this year. At present, the situation is not in favourable for the textile industry. Earlier during Diwali, we would run factories for 24 hours for a month but this year, the scene is different. We have been giving two holidays every week.”

Explaining about dip in demand, he added, “The prices of raw materials and coal have also gone up. Earlier a before Diwali, we would dispatch around 400 trucks carrying textile fabrics daily from Surat to other parts of the country, but this year just 170 to 200 trucks are dispatched.”

On Tuesday, the Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association held a meeting with FOSTTA members in Surat and decided to have vacation for seven days.

FOSTTA president Manoj Agrawal said, “Generally we keep holidays for four to 5 days. This time we have seven days from October 24 as demand has gone down by 50 per cent. We are hoping good demand during wedding seasons after Diwali.”