Mysuru's cheaper rates draw fabric dyeing business from Tirupur

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 29, 2018

As fabric dying in the area around Mysuru is around 20 percent cheaper than in Tirupur, the city is gleaning from increased business. But unauthorised plants in the Mysuru area are causing an environmental risk.

In an effort to cut textile production costs, many of Tirupur’s fabric manufacturers are outsourcing the fabric dyeing part of production to the neighbouring state of Karnataka where costs are lower. Due to this situation, 25 percent of Tirupur’s fabric dyeing is now being done in and around the Mysuru region.

Although costs are 20 percent cheaper in Karnataka, there is a troubling reason why. Tirupur’s fabric dyers have to observe Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) to cut down on the negative environmental effects of textile production. Observing these guidelines inevitably costs money and has driven up the dyeing rate. However, unauthorised units in the state of Karnataka do not observe ZLD regulations and so dyeing can be done cheaper there.

S Nagarajan, the President of the Dyers Association of Tirupur (DAT), said about the issue: “the unauthorised units in Karnataka do not need to bother about the ZLD cost and their overheads cost would also be comparatively low. So, garment manufacturers have started preferring these units over the local ones… We are getting reports that a section of garment manufacturers, both engaged in export and domestic trade, are processing fabric with textile dyeing units in villages near Mysuru and also in few other districts in Tamil Nadu including Madurai and Virudhunagar. Most of these units are neither authorised nor follow ZLD norms.” 

Textile producers have been struggling for over a year now with demonetisation, high GST rates, and competition from other countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that are now able to charge less for their textiles. However, by using unauthorised dyeing plants to cut costs, the environment will undoubtedly suffer.