Sourcing from India, overseas apparel buyers are differing and deferring the payment against the promise for already sent goods and are also not lifting the goods further. This has added to the woes of apparel manufacturers, who are already struggling amidst COVID-19 impact on global and local markets.
Substantiating on the same, Raja M. Shanmugam, President, Tirupur Exporters Association, told Apparel Resources, “Buyers are forcing apparel exporters to give heavy discounts, without any reason. They are even asking for credit time of 6 months which is not possible for us. All this is really disturbing for the industry.”
Highlighting this and some other alarming points, 23 trade bodies of Tirupur textile and apparel industry came together and discussed the entire situation at length.
Besides creating awareness on how to protect all the members of all the trade bodies from fast spreading COVID-19, there were discussions on safety measures. The factories are also checking the health of all the new recruits.
All associations urged the Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to address the issues and demanded proactive steps. They requested the Minister to immediately take measures like advising the banks to not categorise the units as NPAs for non-repayment of loan.
The trade bodies also requested to provide 25 per cent additional working capital for both exports and domestic production based on drawing power, without any collateral and margin money.
Other demands also included extending the crystallisation of receivables to 6 months and extending the period for export receivables from 9 months to 12 months.
Notably, senior representatives of below-mentioned associations took part in this meeting. Tiruppur Exporters’ Association (TEA), The South India Hosiery Manufacturers’ Association (SIHMA), Knit Cloth Manufactures’ Association (KNITcMA), Tirupur Export Knitwear Manufactures Association (TEKMA), Dyers’ Association of Tirupur (DAT), Tirupur Exporters and Manufacturer Association (TEAMA), Tirupur Industrial Federation (TIF),
Tirupur Export Knit Printers Association (TEKPA), The South Indian Imported Machine Knitters Association (SIIMKA), Tirupur Computer Embroiderers Association, The Knit Compactors Association, Tirupur Raising Association, New Thiruppur Hosiery Garments, Small Manufacturers Association, Rotary Screen Printers Association (ROSPA) Laghu Udyog Bharati, Tirupur Tholil Padukappu kulu (TTPK), Dyes and Chemicals Merchant Association, Tirupur Power Table Owners’ Association (PTOA), Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex (TEKIC), Tirupur Elastic Manufacturers and Traders Association (TEMATA), Tirupur Plastic Manufacturers Association (TIPMA), Tirupur Master Printers Association and Tirupur Kaja Urimyalargal Sangam.
