Already struggling with the cancellation of orders, apparel manufacturers across India are facing high absenteeism of workers. Some of the apparel manufacturers are witnessing as much as 50 per cent absenteeism owing to workers not coming back after Holi.
Majority of workers who have not come back have a strong perception that COVID-19 has majorly spread in metro cities, where most of the factories are.
However, majority of apparel manufacturers do not seem to be affected of high absenteeism as they have fewer orders now. And those who have some orders are not in any hurry to complete them.
Most of the garment factories are taking all precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19 though a chunk of workers fear the pandemic.
“Normally after Holi, it used to be 10 to 15 per cent absenteeism, but this time it is 25 to 30 per cent and COVID-19 is also one of the reasons for the same. We are not affected much as we were prepared for this and planned accordingly,” said Pawan Arya, VP-Operations, Orient Craft, Noida.
Orient Craft is one of the leading apparel exporters of India and has factories in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Even apparel manufacturers from Ahmedabad also confirmed that labour absenteeism is there. Around 10 per cent of workers have not come back so far. And there is hardly any chance that they will come back as production has reduced, and there are fewer chances that they will get a job in next few months.
In Ahmedabad too, which is one of the leading apparel manufacturing hubs, workers mostly don’t go on leave for Holi. Therefore, local manufacturers strongly believe that absenteeism is due to the COVID-19 effect.
Source :- https://in.apparelresources.com/