Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Erode garment exporters in a fix

Staff Reporter

Manufacturers reluctant to accept foreign orders due to shortage of manpower

Women power: Employees busy stitching garments at a manufacturing unit at Manickkampalayam in Erode. Photo: M.Govarthan.

ERODE: With a number of orders pouring in from foreign countries, garment manufacturers in Erode are in a dilemma now. Many exporters are reluctant to accept the orders and some rejected them, as there is shortage of manpower.

When fabric exports started declining, many switched over to the making of fabrics into value added products. Ten persons in the town started their own export garment-manufacturing units. Some of them have fabric production centres too.

They formed an association through which they provided free sewing training to more than hundred women belonging to self-help groups and others with stipend. But unfortunately, only ten per cent of them joined garment units.

The Secretary of the Erode Textile Garment Exporter's Association, S. Sivanandhan, said that the garment manufacturers needed at least seven hundred tailors, preferably women. But they had only one tenth of the requirement. So, they were producing very limited quantity of garments and sending them to select countries such as Malaysia, U.K. and the U.S. Garments worth Rs. 150 crores were being exported from Erode as against the demand of more than Rs. 2,000 crores annually, he said.

"I received an order for 1.25 lakh dollars from the U.S. and the buyers demanded that the product should reach them before June this year. Though I have enough stock of fabrics to convert them into garments, I rejected the order as I don't have enough manpower," Mr. Sivanandhan said.

Though the demand for Erode garments was high at the international market and the manufacturers were ready to work round-the-clock, shortage of tailoring staff made them reject many orders, Mr. Sivanandhan said.

He wanted the district administration to ask the District Employment Exchange to send the list of tailors and they were ready to appoint them.

He said that on May 8, the Erode Textile Garment Exporter's Association would be conducting a seminar for fabric manufacturers.

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