Low-key Onam in Kerala hits textile business

COIMBATORE: The low-key Onam celebrations in Kerala given the Wayanad tragedy have dealt a hard blow to textile traders in Erode as well as the knitwear manufacturing units in Tirupur.

Hundreds of traders selling textile products in the EKM Abdul Gani Textile Market, popularly known as Gani Market in Erode are facing tough times due to lack of business for the Onam festival.

“While anticipating a heavy drop in Onam business in the backdrop of Wayanad landslide in the neighbouring state, we did not stock on garments like white ‘veshti’, ‘mundu’, lungi, inner garments and other items usually brought from us in wholesale by Kerala traders ahead of the festival. Since production was slowed down months in advance, the textile sector did not face any issue of stagnation of clothes,” said K Selvaraj, president of Erode Gani Weekly Market Association.

Usually, wholesale buyers from different parts of Kerala used to flock to the market at least a month in advance to purchase garments. Besides poor demand from the neighbouring state, the business from the domestic market in Tamil Nadu is also not so encouraging, unlike the previous years, in solidarity with the Wayanad landslide tragedy.

“Many manufacturing units in Tirupur have stopped production due to a lack of orders from the neighbouring state for Onam. Some 200 odd small scale manufacturers in places like Ammapet in Salem and Kumaramangalam in Namakkal, who churn out garments only for Kerala customers by working all through the year, were the worst hit. Traders in the Gani market used to do Onam business for around 100 crore every year, but this season, sales remain at an abysmally low of less than Rs 10 crore,” Selvaraj added.

Traders say they faced a similar crisis a few years ago in 2018, when Onam celebrations were cancelled in Kerala due to heavy floods.

“But this season, we managed without a ‘hurting loss’ by avoiding stagnation of goods by stopping production. As expected the sales too remain poor,” say traders.

Kerala buyers prefer textile products from Gani market which has around 740 weekly shops and as well as 300 daily shops given their low prices and better quality.

However, the knitwear manufacturers in Tirupur claim that, not only during ‘Onam’ season this year, orders from the neighbouring state had reached a stalemate several years ago itself.

“Over the years, several knitwear manufacturing units have come up in Kerala and they source the fabric alone from here to produce their garments at competitive pricing due to availability of cheap labour, low power tariff and tax rather than in Tamil Nadu. Until a few years ago, they were entirely dependent on Tirupur for garments. Only inner garments are now sent from Tirupur,” said MP Muthurathinam, president of Tirupur Exporters and Manufacturers Association (TEAMA). Tirupur’s knitwear sector does business in the domestic market for Rs 30,000 crore and Rs 35,000 crore in the international market.

“There is an emerging threat from other states also following suit, with businesses likely to shift to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, which are now dependent on Tirupur garment manufacturers,” he added.