Bizman donates stock of PPE suits to charities, hospitals, employees

Ludhiana: Frustrated over huge stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) suits lying unsold, a Ludhiana-based PPE manufacturer has started donating it to charitable institutes, hospitals and even to his workers to be used as raincoats.
Owner of the company says they are no longer interested in carrying on the business of PPE manufacturing due to no support from the government, and so they are donating the unsold stock for noble causes. Several others may soon follow suit.
Harish Dua, owner of KG Exports and president of the Knitwear and Apparel Exporters’ Organisation, tells the TOI, “On a call given by the state government, hundreds of textile and garment manufacturers of the city turned their units into PPE manufacturing ones overnight in the service of the nation. We worked day and night to speed up production and get all sorts of formalities completed and employed labour to run factories during the pandemic, putting our workers’ lives at risk. But with no government support to sell the suits locally and earlier ban on the export by the Centre, pieces worth several lakhs are lying unsold with every manufacturer. Now the government has lifted the ban on export, but played a cruel joke by enforcing tough conditions. Every time, we will need to get permission from the government for sending an export consignment. Moreover, there is no surety whether or not we will get permission for it. Therefore, we have given up PPE suit manufacturing and are donating the leftover stock free of cost to our workers, which they can use as raincoats. Besides, we are also giving away suits to charitable institutions and hospitals, which would have otherwise fetched us good money.”
Virender Sharma, a PPE suit trader, says, “The current situation is very bad for PPE manufacturers in Ludhiana. A lot of them have stopped making the suits, but still have stocks worth several lakhs lying unsold. As of now, the rate of a PPE suit, which was earlier Rs 635-Rs 650, is not even Rs 150-Rs 200. Therefore, some manufacturers are either donating them or selling at no profit no loss. However, some are still waiting in hope that either the export restrictions will be eased or there will be local demand again.”
SUIT STATS
More than 110 certified manufacturers in Ludhiana have approval from the government labs like SITRA, DRDO, among others
Close to 200 non-certified manufacturers and traders of the PPE suits are in Ludhiana alone
Total production capacity is 2 to 3 lakh pieces per day in the city against the national’s 5 lakh
How fabric for PPE suits is made
PPE fabric is made by non-woven process under which first the PP pallet is extruded then the fabric is made out of it. Then the PE pallet is extruded separately for making the lamination film of the fabric. Then both of them are laminated and the final PPE fabric is manufactured. As per information available from different fabric manufactures, PP and PE pallets as of now are made by only one leading textile giant of India, which has monopoly over this business and the company has also started making its own PPE suit.