Chennai Floods Drown Hopes For Surat Textile Business

Industry news

Chennai Floods Drown Hopes For Surat Textile Business

Surat’s Textile Economy

- Total weaving units: Over 25,000

- Total power loom machines: 6.5 lakh

- Power loom machines closed: 3.5 lakh

- Daily production of man-made fabric (MMF): 3 cr meters per day

- Production loss due to workers strike: Over 2 cr meters per day

- Daily supply of textile products from Surat: Rs 110 cr per day

- Daily supply to southern India market: Rs 30 cr worth textile products per day

The rains, ongoing agitation by textile workers and later the flood have drowned the hopes of successful business in the textile industry at Surat. The hit is bad and the country's largest man-made-fabric (MMF) textile industry in the city is suddenly facing a grim situation. An estimated Rs 300 crore worth of orders has been cancelled by buyers in Chennai in the past because of the rains. Out of Rs 110 crore worth of daily supply of saris, home textiles and dress materials from Surat, textile products to the tune of Rs 30 crore are despatched to markets in southern India.

Supply to Chennai has come down to 80% in the last few days because of the rains. Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry's chairman Devkishan Manghani has informed that South India is a major market for textiles from Surat. Chennai, Rajahmundry, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kochi, Vijaywada and Cuddalore are important textile centres in south India. Rains have hit these centres hard which have adversely affected the textile industry here. He further added that it is that time of the year when demand for saris and dress materials is nil in north India, so the dependence shifted to markets in south India for healthy business. But owing to the negative factors the next three months would be tough for Surat's textile industry.

This view was further confirmed by a thoughtful Jay Lal of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Association (FOSTTA). He is immensely tensed as most traders supply textiles to markets in south India on credit. Payments have got stuck because of the rains, disturbing the turnover chain. If the payments do not start coming soon, there will be a monetary crisis staring the textile sector in Surat.