CHENNAI: Swift adaptation to the changing requirements as well as the anti-China sentiments have helped Tirupur, one of the biggest knitwear manufacturing cluster in the country, to bounce back to life.
When the lockdown was announced in March, the 10,000 manufacturing units in Tirupur, which roughly employs over six lakh labourers, were staring at an uncertain future.
With massive cancellation of export orders, pending dues, shipments worth crores stuck in transit and labourers returning back to their native states, these manufacturers and exporters in Tirupur were skeptical about their revival.
However, now after six months the cluster is up and running strong. The factories were shut during the lockdown. But some of them swiftly ventured into medical textiles and started making personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and masks, which benefited the cluster.
The manufacturing units are now operating at almost 70 per cent of their production capacity and by September end it is expected that the units would be running at full capacity.
According to Raja M Shanmugam, president of Tirupur Exporters’ Association, there is a spike in export orders since the last 2 months and a rise in enquiries, too.
He added that the rise in anti-China sentiment globally, after the coronavirus outbreak, has favoured Tirupur and they are receiving orders for more volumes and enquiries for new product range from leading global brands. On an average, Tirupur exports goods worth Rs 2,600 crore monthly.
“As the US and EU markets opened up, we are witnessing a 10-15 per cent rise in the export orders. Adding to that, many global brands are looking beyond the China market and have been enquiring about new products like manmade fibre, though we specialize in knitwear,” said Shanmugam.
The cluster, he said, has not seen job losses. In fact, the units have been hiring local workers.