Rising Re may spell job losses for textile industry

NEW DELHI: Stagnation of textile exports due to steep appreciation of the Indian rupee will lead to a loss of around 5.79 lakh potential new jobs in 2007-08 alone, including the loss of 2.72 lakh jobs directly employed by the industry and the balance in the allied sectors.

According to a study carried out by Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), a decline in exports, which is a distinct possibility as of now, will impact employment in the sector negatively and can even lead to loss of existing jobs, says the CITI study. Releasing the study, CITI chairman Shekhar Agarwal said the trend of employment loss was already discernible. Numbers show that while direct employment gains from textile exports has been reduced by 57,618 in 2006-07 consequent to a slowdown in exports, the incremental employment in the allied industries suffered a loss of 65,820 jobs during the year, said Mr Agarwal.

CITI has demanded immediate government action to arrest the rally of the rupee. And if this was not possible, CITI has demanded that exporters be compensated by returning all the state and local bodies level duties that are currently not being returned to them.

The textile and clothing industry is the largest employment provider in India, after agriculture. Total direct employment in the textile industry as of March 2006 is estimated to be 33.17 million while the indirect employment generated is 54.85 million which takes the total employment by the industry to a massive 88.02 million. According to the most recent estimates, the employment in the industry is expected to go up by 17.37 million over the eleventh plan period to touch 105.39 million.