Minus 10 per cent growth, orders not coming, jobs lost

TIRUPUR: Knitwear exporters have already started feeling the pinch of the Rupee appreciation, as they registered a minus 10 per cent growth so far this fiscal, against the normal 15 to 18 per cent upward annual growth.

"There is a shortfall of 10 per cent and if the trend continues, it will be very difficult to reach Rs 10,000 crore exports, as against over Rs 11,000 crore last fiscal," A Shaktivel, President, Tirupur Exporters Association, told reporters here last night.

The Rupee appreciation has had an adverse affect not only on exports, but also on the employment front, as nearly 7,000 have already lost or left their jobs, as there were no fresh orders from buyers from July last, Shaktivel said.

Due to the weak order position, as compared to a normal year when there are seven to eight months pending orders,there was the possibility of about 50,000 persons losing jobs by March 2008, he claimed.

Moreover, exporters were also not going in for expansion, because buyers wanted garments at cheaper rates, which they were getting from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries, Shaktivel said.

Appealing to the Government to intervene immediately and bail out the industry and exporters, he said the Centre should bring down bank interest rates to six per cent, discourage Foreign Investments and promote only FDIs.