After the recent instability in Bangladesh’s garment sector, the production of ready-made garments has increased again, but the garment and footwear companies of the western world have temporarily stopped orders. Indian textile industry is affected due to decrease in product orders in Bangladesh. Because India supplies many of the raw materials and other products of the garment sector made in Bangladesh.
In the current situation in Bangladesh, orders from various Western companies are looking for other destinations in Asia. Meanwhile, India’s cotton exports to Bangladesh have started to decline, according to top executives of India’s garment industry. This information was given in a report of the Indian English daily The Indian Express on Sunday.
“There are no new orders coming from Western companies,” Mohammad Rafiq Ahmed, a top official at Farida Group, a Chennai-based Indian ready-to-wear company, told The Indian Express. The workers and management understand that production is their lifeblood and they are working overtime to complete the order within the stipulated time. Besides, some materials are being brought from India to supply the ordered products and technicians are also coming from India.” The Chennai-based company has investments in Bangladesh.
Ahmed said, most of the production is going on in their company’s factories in Dhaka and Chittagong. The two areas are relatively less isolated in the protests. There was a disruption in early August, but it is now back to normal. He said all Western orders would resume as Bangladesh has some concessions in tariff conditions as a Least Developed Country (LDC).
Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Secretary General Chandrima Chatterjee said Western companies are looking at India as an alternative for manufacturing their ready-made garments. But it depends a lot on the ability to deliver. Currently there are differences between Indian and Bangladeshi products in some respects including quality.
He said, many people are inquiring about the garment industry. But its immediate impact on the Indian textile industry has been negative. Because the export of our production materials in Bangladesh has decreased. But delivery of PLI and PM’s allied projects to meet our national needs is on the right track.
An Indian garment industry executive, who declined to be named, said that before the ongoing crisis in Bangladesh, Western companies were looking at India. The European market is increasingly concerned about human rights issues in Bangladesh. That is why they are looking at the Indian market.
He said that orders from western companies in Bangladesh had started to decrease some time ago. But those orders did not move to India. Most of these orders are going to Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Our product mix is not changing and orders are not coming to India even though there are many opportunities. More than 80 percent of Bangladesh’s total export earnings come from the textile and garment industry. The contribution of this sector to the country’s GDP is about 11 percent. According to international credit rating agency S&P Global, Bangladesh’s USD 45 billion garment industry has already suffered due to weak power generation infrastructure due to rising garment production costs and unfavorable conditions since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. Last Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden discussed the situation in Bangladesh and expressed concern over the situation in Bangladesh.
Earlier this month, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said the Indian apparel and ready-to-wear industry faced “some uncertainty” amid the ongoing political situation in neighboring Bangladesh. He expressed hope that the interim government of Bangladesh will solve these problems.