Surat's synthetic textile sector faces recession-led job cuts

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 4, 2023

Surat is facing a recession in its synthetic textile industry, which produces around 90% of India’s synthetic fabrics. Many industry workers in the area are finding themselves jobless as slow business has led numerous production units to shut down their operations. 

Thousands of textile workers in Surat are jobless this season, Indo-Asian News Service reported. The industry requires an untick in domestic demand in order to get back on track but a dwindling demand for garments which require metres of fabric such as sarees and dupattas has led to a drop in the demand for synthetic cloth. 
 
Over the past four months, around 15 to 20 textile dyeing and processing plants in Surat have closed down, according to the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association’s data. The Surat industry was previously producing around 4.5 crore metres of synthetic fabric per day but it is now producing only around 2.5 crore metres per day due to lower demand, ET Bureau reported. 

The Surat synthetic textiles industry employs around 4.5 lakh people and is thus a major employer in the area, along with the jewellery and diamond industry. The president of the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association, Jitendra Vakharia, has called for government support to keep the industry afloat as up to 1 lakh workers could have already been made unemployed by the recession in the sector.