Kulmani Gupta Highlights Impact of UK Lockdown on Noida’s Garment Exporters
By The Times of India | Thu Dec 24 2020
NOIDA: The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the UK and subsequent lockdowns have once again disrupted the operations of garment exporters in Noida. With approximately 1,500 garment manufacturing units in Gautam Budh Nagar heavily reliant on international clients, the renewed restrictions have led to significant concerns about order cancellations and financial losses.
Kulmani Gupta, President of the Noida chapter of the Indian Industries Association (IIA), emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating, “Businesses are likely to get impacted again, and the industry is watching the situation in Europe closely. We will see how things shape over the next 7-8 days and then draw some conclusions about the impact of the second round of lockdown on us.”
Rajiv Bansal, National Secretary of IIA, added, “The second round lockdown is going to hit us. We were just hoping things would take a good turn when this has come around. Exporters, especially garment manufacturers, are now going to suffer a huge setback.”
Prior to the renewed lockdowns, many of these businesses had begun to stabilize. However, the new restrictions have led to flight cancellations and hesitancy among international partners, affecting both exports and imports. The situation has also impacted employment, with Noida’s SME industries seeing a reduction in workforce from nearly 10 lakh to around 6-7 lakh post-lockdown.