Women SHGs suffer as industrial units shift to mask making

Surat: Jagruti Patel and 16 other women at the Self Help Group (SHG) in Navsari’s Samapore village were happy with the steady flow of income generated by stitching cotton and khadi masks for a non-government organisations (NGOs) and the retail selling in the village and Navsari town.
However, the humming of their sewing machines has stopped as they have not got any supply order in last 20 days. This is because many of the industrial units in Surat have started stitching masks and are selling it as half the price.
“Each woman in our group would stitch 100 masks, earning Rs 250 per day. But, we have stopped manufacturing masks due to stiff competition from the industrial units in Surat,” said Jagruti, coordinator of the Smart Sakhi Mandal, which has manufactured over 6 lakh masks since April 1.
“Our wholesale rate is Rs 10 per piece, while the other industrial units manufacturing masks on large scale are offering for Rs 5 per piece,” says Jagruti.
She and other women of her self-help group are not the only ones who have stopped manufacturing masks. There are many SHG group facing similar problems with host of small and big industrial units in south Gujarat getting into the masks manufacturing business on a large scale.
Sambhu Sakhi Mandal, an SHG in Chalthan village in Surat’s Palsana taluka, is run by about 45 women. From the very next day of lockdown, the SHG women started stitching masks and in the last one month they have manufactured about 8 lakh masks using cotton and non-woven fabrics and supplied them to the sugar mills and to the NGOs.
Pushpa Mistry, coordinator of the Sambhu Sakhi Mandal told TOI, “About 32,000 masks are lying with us since last fortnight. Buyers want masks for Rs 5 per piece, which is not possible. Our input cost is higher because we sourced cotton and non-woven fabric in limited quantities, while the industrial units purchase it in bulk.”
A Surat-based NGO, Shakti Foundation, working with about 300 women in various SHG groups in Surat and Navsari districts has stopped giving orders for the masks due to stiff competition in the market.
Sonal Rochani, co-founder of Shakti Foundation told TOI, “After the lockdown, our first order of 60,000 masks was from the ONGC. For the SHG women, mask making had become a source of livelihood. Now, these women have stopped stitching masks as the industrial units have started making masks in bulk and are offering it at cheaper rates than the SHG groups.”
Rochani added, “The SHG women bought raw material at much higher rate during lockdown and stitched the masks. Now, markets are open and raw material is available at wholesale price. We have urged the state government to help to such SHG groups.”