Team Perfect Sourcing spoke to CMAI about the current crisis in the industry and feedback was received.
The current crisis caused by the Coronavirus will be impacting all Industries across the board. However, the Apparel industry, which is the highest employer in the economy after Agriculture, and more importantly, the highest employer of women, along with the semi-skilled and unskilled work force, is in a particularly vulnerable position today, with almost all State Governments closing down Malls, Shopping Centers, and Stores, and generally discouraging movement of people. Mass transportation is also likely to be shut soon. Apparel sales have shown a drop of nearly 80% in the last one week.
With massive reduction in offtake, and consequently revenue, it would be impossible to survive without impacting the current employment. The industry which is employing close to 25 million people between its Manufacturing and Retail Sectors, will be looking at a job loss of nearly 25%, if the current scenario continuesbeyond 4 weeks.
It is crucial that jobs in this sector are protected.
It is also critical to understand that the impact of this is not going to recede in the next few weeks. It is likely to take the Industry not less than 10 to 12 months to recover.
The Industry simply cannot survive this unprecedented situation without Government support.
CMAI has made detailed representations on all the issues confronting us, but essentially, we are requestingthe Government to consider the postponement of all Statutory dues such as Income Tax, Advance Tax, GST,etc., a minimum of 180 days moratorium on repayment of all Bank loans, and disbursement of 25% additional Working Capital loans on 0% interest to tide over the current liquidity shortfall caused by the closure of most shopping Malls and markets.
In addition, CMAI has requested the Government to provide some wage subsidy, so that there are no job losses in this sector, and creation of a special Factor Fund for MSMEs to discount their bills immediately.
All of the above will enable the Industry to ensure that the payment cycle to and protect the two weakest sections – the Workers and the Vendor base, which is essentially in the MSME Sector.
CMAI is hopeful that the Government will pay heed to the requests of the Apparel sector, which employs almost 25 million people, largely women, between its Manufacturing and Retailing segments.
