Indian garments have been listed by the United States Department of Labor in the year 2009 and 2010 in their final determination of the Executive Order list No. 13126 and Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) list, on grounds that the list of products might have been produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labour.
As per United States Department of Labor the TVPRA and EO lists are awareness generation list and do not act as Non Tariff Barriers. The impact of these finding has not been witnessed in apparel exports to other exporting countries.
Government has engaged the US authorities through several meetings since 2009, with a view to get Indian garments off the US DoL lists. US DoL has also been furnished with the industry response to the final determination based on field level surveys. Meanwhile, the Apparel Exports Promotion Council (AEPC) has also commenced with implementing the Common Compliance Code, a Plan Scheme of Ministry of Textiles, for sensitizing the domestic industry on appropriate labour practices.
USA blacklisting for unfair labour practices
Written By Views maker on August 24, 2011 | 8/24/2011
China faces shortage of Technicians
Written By Views maker on July 09, 2011 | 7/09/2011
The shortage of technical workers has become a key obstacle preventing the textile industry from growing stronger. Half of the country's key production positions lack technical workers. China aims to raise the productivity of the textile industry by 50 percent during the 2011-2015 period, but it still faces a tough task to train technicians.China has exported 48.63 billion U.S. dollars of textiles and garments in the first quarter of this year, up 24 percent from a year earlier.
Decline in textile employment
Written By Views maker on June 29, 2011 | 6/29/2011
Employment in the textiles sector declined by 1.21 lakh in the January-March 2011 period. There was a fall in employment in the handloom/powerloom, gems & jewellery and leather sectors as well but it was much lower at 18,000, 2,000 and 8,000 respectively.The IT and BPO sector created 2.87 lakh jobs in the period, while the automobiles sector added 13,000 more to the workforce, the metals sector added 16,000 and the transport sector created 6,000 jobs.
Labour shortage
Written By Views maker on June 26, 2011 | 6/26/2011
Industry body ASSOCHAM today voiced concern over the textile and clothing industry facing an immense challenge in mobilising additional workers to fulfill production requirements as many of them are moving to other well-paying jobs – either in other fast-growing sectors or back home in rural areas.
The crisis-like situation comes at a time when India is its losing competitive edge in export markets due to rising input costs amid stiff competition from neighbouring nations like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.
That too when major importers of textiles and garments – the European Union and the United States – are yet to recover from the global economic recession and potential buyers are not willing to pay even five cents a piece more, said The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The chamber conducted an on-line and phone survey last week with heads of 100 textile firms in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Kolkata, and the findings call for immediate steps to be taken. Nearly 45 per cent of them said their units are utilising only 50 to 60 per cent of production capacity due to labour shortage.
About 30 per cent of them said their margins are shrinking as they are not able to meet sale targets. Nearly 15 per cent of them said they are contemplating plans to shift focus on brand building while 10 per cent of respondents said they may soon move production units to interior areas where workers are available at low wages.
The current workforce in Indian textile and clothing industry is about 35 million with an equal number employed in allied industries. This should move up to 47 million by 2015, including five million skilled workers and two million technical and other personnel, if growth projections are to be met.
Most workers earning about Rs. 7,000 a month are of migratory nature. They move from the agricultural sector to cities after the sowing season for half of the year and get back to villages when the harvest season starts
Surat is facing a shortage of textile labour
Written By Views maker on May 15, 2011 | 5/15/2011
Surat, well known for its flourishing textile industry, is currently witnessing a shortage of over 200,000-300,000 workers as more and more of them migrate to other states or to other jobs in search of better income. Surat textile units have started to introduce new benefits for the textile worker, the move after a huge shortage of worker. The textile units are expecting to retain the existing work by providing some more provisions.
