Many textile mills in Andhra Pradesh are facing crucial challenges and they have decided to stop production.
With around more than 100 textile mills, the state has almost 35 lakh spindles. Only 100 textile mills are running at a capacity of 40 per cent.
Lanka Raghurami Reddy, Chairman, Andhra Pradesh Textile Mills Association said, “The recession which has set into the industry has now turned into an all-time low due to soaring cotton prices, increase in bank interest rate, high transportation cost and shortage of power and labour.”
He further added that earlier they were able to run textile mills with 50 per cent capacity, but now they have decided to close down due to soaring operational costs and losses. He stated, “We want to continue but we have no way out. Thousands of workers are losing their livelihood.”
Mills owners are of the view that the main reasons for the closedown are sluggish demand and fall in prices of cotton. Thousands of bales are lying in cold storages due to lack of demand.
The association also urged that Central and State governments to release the pending arrears. The Government released Rs. 237 crore in September 2021 and now mills’ arrears are close to Rs. 1,400 crore.
