Garments exporters worry over high logistics cost, seek Centre’s support

Jaipur: Readymade garment exporters of Jaipur have flagged issues that are hurting exports to Japan during a meeting with Union secretary (ministry of textiles) UP Singh. For Jaipur’s garment exporters, Japan is a major market and 75% of the consignments are sent by air. Lack of frequency, high cost of logistics, lower level of automation, and longer delivery time are reducing competitiveness of exporters, they said at the meeting.
President of Association of Garment Exporters Sitapura Arif Kagzi said, “Jaipur is the most preferred destination for Japanese buyers of readymade garments. But there are issues that need to be addressed.”
Kagzi said lack of automation is hurting the industry as delivery time by the exporters here is longer compared to rival exporting countries. “The automation machinery is costly as the exporters, who are mostly MSMEs, have to pay higher customs duty. Buyers need quick delivery. But without advanced machinery and lack of other raw materials for quick sourcing, we lose buyers,” added Kagzi.
The meeting attended by other leading exporters to Japan also raised issues of non-availability of skilled labour resulting in slow production with high ratio of rejections.