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Camera: Abhishek Ranjan
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
“If we are operating at 33 percent, what will the rest of the workers do?” wonders Nikhil Thukral, as he mulls over resuming operations at his family’s apparel factory in Noida. A second-generation businessman, Thukral’s company named ‘Maharana of India’, has been producing PPE kits for the last one month.
But with negligible orders in the foreseeable future, the 35-year-old factory is among 3,000 apparel manufacturing units in Noida now staring at a uncertain future. Adding to his worries are fixed costs given that government guidelines have allowed factories to resume operation, with only 33 percent of the workforce.
Nikhil’s father Lalit Thukral, founder of Maharana of India and the President of Noida Apparel Export Cluster, too, is worried about a weak demand.
He says that “there's lockdown in maximum areas and businesses are down due to coronavirus. All stores, shops and malls in Europe are shut. But, all other buyers have cancelled their orders. Now they are not taking goods and orders have been cancelled. How will we get the money to keep the work going?”
It’s not just the apparel industry, those in other manufacturing segments are worried about their future. Yash Chopra, who is a partner at Authentic Designers in Noida, says that restrictions on inter-district and inter-state travel has led to a shortage of skilled workers. This, he says,has reduced the production capacity at his Noida factory by over 30 percent.
Adding to his problems are strict guidelines applicable to factories with a workforce of more than 50 people.
Chopra says that “testing fee of private labs has been fixed at Rs 4,500. Already, we do not have money and this is an additional burden on us. I would request the government to allow us to conduct these tests through ESI or government hospitals and allot a special time for us or government doctors can come here and conduct random testing.”
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