A month after the E.K.M. Abdul Gani Textile Market (Gani Market) was reopened, traders said that restrictions on inter-district vehicle movement and poor cash flow among the people have hit their business hard.
There are 1000-odd weekly and daily shops selling all types of garments, both in wholesale and retail, and merchants from other districts and States place bulk orders before festival season.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the market was closed on March 16 and was reopened on May 22. Traders said that due to lockdown, their orders for Onam, Ugadi, Ramzan and for school uniforms were lost and they were unable to pay their borrowed loans. They were seeking interest-free credit facilities, reduction in GST rate for all textile products from 5% to 2% and other government support during the crisis.
However, things did not change in the past one month after their business operations resumed, as traders from other districts could not travel to the market. “Traders from other districts complain that their request for e-Pass was rejected many times”, said S. Sakthivel, secretary, Erode Gani Market Weekly Textile Trader’s Association.
He said that small traders in the district purchase products, but seek credit facilities which they are unable to provide now.
“Since markets in North India are yet to recover, we receive less than 50% orders and dispatch products through parcel service”, he said and wanted norms to be relaxed for traders to travel.
Traders also said that poor cash flow among the people is also affecting business as Aadi sale is yet to gain momentum.
“The situation may not improve completely for Deepavali as the COVID-19 affect is expected to continue for another six months”, said another trader.
