The garment industry is set to take a huge hit because of the strike that resulted in the downing of shutters across industrial areas in the city. Industrialists are a worried lot as they are staring at massive losses if the strike enters the third day on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, protesting workers enforced a complete lockdown of the Peenya Industrial Estate which is home to one of the biggest clusters of garment industries.
According to estimates, the loss could be in the range of Rs 1,000 crore for the two days. “There has been a complete lockdown of the estate. We think losses might be around Rs 1,000 crore for two days. However, it will be impossible to calculate damages till the situation is resolved,” said Venkatesh D.T., former president of the Peenya Industries Association.
The city is a hub for production of garments and is estimated to have more than 1,200 big, small and medium-size garment factories providing employment to over 5.5 lakh workers. With several clusters located in Mysore Road, Goraguntepalya, Yesvantpur, Peenya and Bomanahalli, work was affected all across the city.
“I don’t know who has instigated this protest but the losses will run into several crores,” said Tallam R Dwarakanath, President, Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
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Many units service brands in US, Europe
The strike will have a domino effect on orders for factories which operate with tight deadlines and small reserve days. “We calculate the time needed for each order based on the quantity and the number of workers. Usually our orders come from companies which have already arranged for their transport and these are very costly to change. We keep a few days extra for such emergencies but then our next order processing is affected,” said a garment factory owner who did not want to be named. Most of the garment factories here service multinational apparel brands based in the U.S. and Europe.
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