Noida garment exporters face labor shortage as COVID cases surge
Garment exporters from Noida and leather goods exporters from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, are facing a shortage of workers due to rising COVID cases. In the Noida apparel export cluster, the return of migrant workers has completely stopped with 3,000 garment export units facing a shortage of around 3 lakh tailors.
Before COVID struck, the Noida export cluster had a total workforce of 10 lakh, of which 50 per cent were migrant workers. Slowly, the migrant workers started coming in and by the time the second wave was over, around 2 lakh migrant workers returned. The units were comfortable with 7 lakh workers. But with sudden surge in demand, they need additional 3 lakh workers – who are majorly tailors and specialised in embroidery work.
The exporting units at Noida fear that if they do not deliver the export orders on time due to shortage of manpower and rising cotton prices, then a portion of their business may shift to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam.
While the garment exporters from Noida are facing the problem of non-availability of migrant workers, the leather exporting units in Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi are witnessing a decline in workforce due to rising covid cases among them.
The workers, who are double vaccinated, are falling prey to this new variant of COVID and therefore the manpower is getting impacted. We have orders in hand.
