Embroidery industry mulls early Diwali vacation

SURAT: After power loom weavers in the city, embroidery unit owners have also indicated observing early Diwali vacation from October 25, citing various reasons, including recession, increasing default cases in textile markets and Goods and Services Tax.
From just a few thousands embroidery machines installed a decade ago, the city now has more than 1.25 lakh hi-tech embroidery machines imported from China, South Korea and Taiwan with investment running into over Rs5,000 crore.

Post-GST, the embroidery sector is at the receiving end with more than 70 per cent downing their shutters in the last few months. The reasons cited by the unit owners range from considerable reduction in job work from textile traders to increase in default cases in the textile markets.

Surat Embroidery Unit Owners Association president Dinesh Angadh told TOI, “Only 35 per cent of embroidery machines are now operational out of the total 1.25 lakh machines. This year’s Diwali festival looks bleak for the embroidery sector. Hence, we are contemplating shutting our units early by October 25. Many of our workers who hail from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have already started going to their hometowns due to recent attacks on them in some parts of Gujarat.”