Ludhiana hosiery industry hit hard due to unrest in Kashmir

The Ludhiana hosiery industry that supplies goods such as shawls, jackets, sweaters, gloves, caps, warmers and blankets to Jammu and Kashmir due to the unrest in Kashmir have suspended production and a majority of these have closed down as a result the industry has incurred a loss of nearly Rs100 crore.

Many noted knitwear houses manufacturing shawls who have sent their raw material to Kashmir for its famous embroidery has been stuck due to the unrest following the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani, said Tarun Jain, Chairman, Bahadur-Ke-Textile and Knitwear Association.

He said that a majority of the traders could not sell their material beyond Jammu city. There were several small towns near Srinagar, where hosiery material is sold in bulk. However, due to the problem, these places have become completely inaccessible.

If a hosiery industry will close down, it will affect other sectors as well. For example, nearly 40,000 labourers are working in factory units located in Bhadaur Ke cluster. In fact, over 1.5 lakh people are dependent on the industry.

Many hosiery units have closed down while other suspended work as traders in Kashmir could not make payment of the previous year’s purchase.

Sunil Datt, hosiery traders, who supplies hosiery in Kashmir said that over 50 percent of the hosiery items manufactured in Ludhiana are consumed in Jammu and Kashmir. Many hosiery manufacturers have closed down their establishment as they could not receive cheques of the material sent last year.

Vinod Thapar, chairman, Knitwear Club, said that as of now, all orders stood cancelled. Ludhiana hosiery industry is paying the price of unrest in Kashmir as it is the only place in the country, where woollens are sold throughout the year. Due to the unrest, they are losing out on sales. A huge number of hosiery units are functioning for merely six hours a day just to retain the handful of workers.

Vinod Thapar said that the Knitwear Club was planning to approach banks to bail out the industry from this crisis.