Textile mills across the State have declared a lockdown citing global recession. In Andhra Pradesh, there are 125 textile mills with a combined capacity of 35 lakh spindles.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh Textile Mills Association chairman Lanka Raghurami Reddy said that the Indian textile industry was facing the worst crisis in its history. “The recession which has set into the industry has now turned into an all-time low due to soaring cotton prices, increase in bank interest rate, high transportation cost and shortage of power and labour. In Andhra Pradesh, only 100 textile mills are running to a capacity of 40%.
“Earlier, we were able to run textile mills with 50% capacity, but now we decided to close down due to soaring operational costs and losses. We want to continue but we have no way out. Thousands of workers are losing their livelihood,” said Mr. Raghurami Reddy.
One of the main reasons is the sluggish demand and fall in prices of cotton. Thousands of bales are lying in cold storages due to lack of demand.
“We also urge the Centre to regulate MCX trading and control the middlemen who are buying cotton at lower prices,” said Mr. Reddy.
The entry of multinational giants into the market has hit the domestic textile industry, the largest organised labour sector in the country, and has given scope for speculation resulting in the steep hike of cotton prices. For instance, in spite of the record bumper crop of 3.15 crore bales during the current season as against the requirement of 2.4 crore bales, cotton prices have shot up by 40% to 50%, he said.
The association also demanded that Central and State governments release the pending arrears.
“We thank Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for releasing ₹237 crore in September 2021 and now our arrears are close to ₹1,400 crore. We urge the Central and State governments to release the remaining arrears,” said Mr. Reddy.
