Tamil Nadu textile manufacturers to go on hunger strike over cotton prices

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 20, 2022

A group of powerloom, garment, and hosiery manufacturers in Palladam and Tirupur announced they will begin a hunger strike on January 21 against rising cotton prices which are making their businesses unviable.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin is advocating for the manufacturers and urged the central government to step in and control the rising cotton prices, the Press Trust of India reported. Both Stalin and the manufacturers have argued that, if cotton prices continue to rise, the apparel businesses will become unviable and this will result in significant job losses in the state and this will damage its economy as a whole. 
 
“I request you to urgently intervene in this matter to resolve this precarious situation that has widespread ramifications,” wrote Stalin to Union minister for textiles Piyush Goyal on January 19, the Press Trust of India reported. “The apparel and garment manufacturers in Tamil Nadu have been representing the grim situation of cotton and yarn price volatility and its adverse impact on the price of fabrics and garments.”

Stalin wrote in his letter that he had previously appealed to Goyal to remove the 11% duty rate on cotton to prevent economic hardship for the textile industry. Stalin has also asked for a revamp of the Competition Commission of India’s commercial terms and conditions for cotton e-auctions to reduce the minimum lot size for sales to 500 bales to enable more businesses to participate.