Ludhiana industry faces labour crisis as migrants stay away

Ludhiana, the industrial backbone of Punjab and popularly known as “Manchester of India,” is grappling with a deepening labour crisis that threatens to derail productivity and disrupt supply chains across multiple sectors. A significant drop in workforce availability, driven by overlapping factors, has left factories struggling to stay afloat.

A large portion of Ludhiana’s skilled and unskilled workforce traditionally hails from states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. However, many of these migrant workers who had returned home in recent months due to the recent Indo-Pak tensions and concerns over conflict in certain regions have not returned. Industry leaders are describing the current situation as a “post-war labour vacuum,” with no immediate signs of improvement.

DS Chawla, president of the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA), sounded the alarm over the shortage gripping the city’s cycle manufacturing sector. He emphasised that both production and delivery schedules were being severely disrupted.

“About 40–50 per cent of the labour force, which had gone back due to the Indo-Pakistan tensions, has not returned,” Chawla said. “To make matters worse, power cuts have also begun to impact the industry. More than 30 per cent of our usual workforce hasn’t returned after Holi. We expected them back by mid-May, but now even those who had assured us of returning post-harvest are not responding,” he added.

“We’re failing to meet export deadlines and losing customers as a result,” he further pointed out and added that the cycle sector was highly labour-intensive and lacked the kind of high-tech automation that could otherwise compensate for manpower shortage.

Similar concerns were echoed by Vinod Thapar, chairman of the Knitwear Club, Ludhiana. Speaking about the challenges in the knitwear and textile sector, Thapar said, “Our industry relies nearly 95 per cent on migrant labour. Following the Indo-Pak tensions, many workers returned to their home states and haven’t come back. We aren’t able to find skilled youth from Punjab to fill these roles.”

He added that the situation had become so difficult that factory owners had been making announcements at local gurdwaras and offering stipends in an attempt to attract labourers.

Compounding the crisis is the ongoing paddy-sowing season across Punjab. Many seasonal and migrant workers have chosen to take up better-paying, less skill-intensive agricultural work in rural areas. Even local youths are shifting to farming-related work during this time, reducing the already stretched labour pool available to Ludhiana’s industrial units.

The fallout is becoming increasingly evident across sectors such as hosiery, garments, bicycle manufacturing, auto parts and machine tools. Several units are operating at only 50 to 60 per cent capacity. Some smaller enterprises have been forced to halt production entirely, awaiting a turnaround in labour availability.

As Ludhiana battles this multi-pronged labour crunch, industry stakeholders are urging coordinated efforts from industry bodies, state government and skill development authorities. Without timely intervention, the crisis could lead to a decline in exports, increased job losses and a potential erosion of investor confidence, threatening not just Ludhiana’s industrial stature, but also Punjab’s broader economic stability.