The ongoing lockdown has severely hit the textile industry which is so far dominated by smaller manufacturers said Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).’He also said industry will become a low margin industry and smaller players will struggle to survive. Mehta feels there will be consolidation within the textile industry. “It is sad that the ones who were doing textile business for 30 years or more, just because of one bad year they are thinking about closing down,” Mehta said. With around 80 percent of the garment industry mostly micro, small and medium enterprises, CMAI, which has around 3,700 members employing over 7 lakh people, said most of its members do not have the kind of reserves to see them through 3-6 months of this magnitude. Currently, India is going through an unprecedented complete lockdown since March 22, which was extended to July 31, to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Mehta said CMAI had done a survey among its members and analysed around 1,500 responses and the responses were quite frightening. According to the survey, almost 20 percent of them said that they were thinking of closing down the business after lockdown. At least 60 percent of them anticipated a drop in revenue to the tune of 40 percent, which is massive, if you look in terms of number of employment,” he said.

(Moneycontrol)