NEW DELHI: Rising heat stress has put India's 45 million garment workers at risk of losing productivity, which could lead to the loss of 35 million full-time jobs and a subsequent decline of 4.5% in India’s GDP by 2030, a new report showed.
The report, titled ‘Breaking Point: Heat and the Garment Floor’, was released by HeatWatch and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. It examined the plight of workers in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Delhi-NCR, revealing how extreme heat jeopardises the lives, health, and livelihoods of India's garment workers, most of whom are women.
Based on surveys conducted with 115 garment workers in Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, along with 47 in-depth interviews and case studies from 15 garment and textile units in Tamil Nadu, Delhi-NCR, and Gujarat, the report provides a firsthand account of how rising temperatures intersect with long working hours, factory abuses, and gendered power dynamics on the production floor.
The report indicates that health risks are exacerbated by inadequate factory infrastructure: 60% of surveyed units lack medical clinics, and 73% have heat-trapping roofs made of metal or asbestos. Many workers reported that temperature monitors were only installed during brand audits or buyer visits.
Additionally, the report emphasises that heat stress disproportionately affects women workers compared to their male counterparts. In male-dominated management structures, issues related to heat stress faced by women are often dismissed. "Heat is treated as just a part of nature or considered a women's issue due to our attire, instead of being recognized as a workplace problem," says Jothi, a garment worker from Tirupur. “When we ask for fans or for permission to use the toilet more frequently, we are criticised — ‘Don’t you have AC at home?’”
Female workers expressed that heat-related problems are often deemed unimportant because they are not perceived as impacting business; however, they significantly affect their health and dignity every day. The report indicates that around 93% of women experienced disruptions to their menstrual cycles, 97% reported burning sensations during urination, 87% faced heat-related symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and muscle cramps, and 80% reported a lack of airflow at their workstations.
The report also highlighted that the majority of workers do not receive permission to access toilets. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), India could lose the equivalent of 35 million full-time jobs and see a 4.5% decline in GDP by 2030 due to heat stress.
Given that the textile and garment sector employs 45 million people and contributed $34.4 billion in exports for the fiscal year 2023–24, the report emphasised the necessity of protecting workers from heat for both labour rights and business sustainability. “The findings show that heat stress is not just an environmental crisis—it is a labor rights emergency,” stated Apekshita Varshney, Founder of HeatWatch.
“As temperatures rise, women workers bear the brunt of production pressures, lost incomes, and deteriorating health. Without immediate reforms, India risks eroding the very workforce that powers its textile exports.”