As competition rises, warp-knitting industry faces heat

Neeraj Bagga

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 18

Surat has dethroned Amritsar’s warp-knitting industry from the number one position in the country.

Notably, many Amritsar-based skilled knitting artisans shifted to Surat to run warp-knitting industry there during the past few years. An entrepreneur dealing in the knitting fabric, Jatinder Sharma, said over Rs 2,500 crore annual turnover warp knitting industry of the holy city was facing the heat now.

Considerable slow down of industrial growth

Sharma said competition from Gujarat-based knitters slowed down the growth of local industry considerably. “Surat-based warp knitting industry progressed 10 times in the past five years,” he added.

Wrap knitting fabric, a branch of the textile industry, is widely used in a range of items, including shoes, school bags, automobile vehicles, furnishers, curtains, bed sheets, briefcases, sportswear, helmets, travelling accessories, men and women wears, besides many other items.

Govt fails to understand industry, its requirement

He rued that the government never made an attempt to understand the industry and its requirement. He said, “Besides anything else, the industry requires marketing for its products. Keeping in view its wide use in a spectrum of products, this variety of textile has markets all over the world.”

Shortage of skilled artisans

Another manufacturer Raman Aggarwal said 350 warp knitting manufacturing units were active in the city. He said being a highly labour intensive industry it provides employment to thousands of men and women. The industry was in need of skilled artisans, who were extremely difficult to find, he added.

High maintenance cost

Many units have closed due to high maintenance cost and expensive skilled labour. Lack of support from the government was a gain for warp knitting industries of China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey, which are capturing world markets in a big way.

Dearth of garment manufacturing units

There are no garmenting units in the city to turn the fabric produced in to an end product. Hence, they are selling textile to industries based in Kolkatta, Delhi, Surant, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.