The impact of the ongoing Iran-Israel-America conflict in the Middle East is now clearly visible on Indian industries. Especially the garment export sector of Noida is bearing the direct brunt of this war, where orders have stopped, payments have got stuck and there is an atmosphere of uncertainty in the market.
Read team had a special conversation with Lalit Thakral, President of Noida Apparel Export Cluster, to understand this serious situation. He openly told how this war has almost halted the pace of business and has created an unprecedented crisis for the industry.
Has the Middle East war dealt a blow to India’s garment exports?
Lalit Thakral said, “If we look at the whole of India, our total export is 16 billion dollars, out of which five and a half billion dollars goes to America. A very large part of the remaining export goes to Dubai. All the goods go to Dubai around Saudi Arabia, Dubai and from there the goods go to many other countries. South Africa goes, Russia also goes from there.”
He further said, “Since this war has happened, all the traffic in the stores inside Dubai has stopped, tourists are not coming. So the goods in the stores, how many big stores are open there, are not being sold. Those goods have stopped. All the orders that were already going on, they have stopped. The payment for the goods that have been sent is also not coming because all the banks there are also closed.”
Has Noida’s exports been directly affected?
Thakral further said clearly that ‘As far as I can tell, a large part of the entire India is within it, but if we talk about Noida, 10 to 15% of Noida’s exports also went to Dubai. This had a huge impact on Noida.” This means that Noida’s factories are being affected the most due to their dependence on Dubai.
Has first the Trump tariffs and now the war been a double blow?
He said that “Trump’s tariffs and penalties caused a lot of damage. We lost Rs 18 to 20 thousand crores to the main companies of America which were working because their work stopped.” After this he said, “But after that suddenly this war with Iran started… which is having an overall impact on our economy. Oil has also become expensive…”
Is the labor crisis also deepening?
Thakral said, “The biggest problem is that we don’t even have labor here. Labor has gone to the village. Those who went for Holi are not coming back. It is said that the cylinder has become very expensive.” He further said, “Look, the laborers who had gone to the village, we tried to call them, called them. They were not coming. They were saying that the cylinder is expensive. I said you come, your cylinder is guaranteed by me.”
Has black marketing of gas cylinders made the situation worse?
Thakral expressed his displeasure on this and said, “Look, as far as cylinders are concerned, people do not look for opportunities in disaster. Those who are hoarding and selling cylinders in black are very wrong.” Giving an example, he said, “Tomorrow is Hanuman Jayanti. Someone I know told me that he had to organize a bhandara. His cylinder worth ₹ 10,000 was found. It is a shameful. What is happening here?”
Have new orders come to a complete halt?
Thakral said, “If we talk about the orders, the orders that had come to us, those that had been cut etc. were also stopped. The cloth that was in printing was also stopped. All the goods that were lying ready were also stopped.” He further said, “The finishing goods also stopped, so we finished and packed them. But the goods are not going.”
Has the work of big international clients also been affected?
He said, “I work for four stores inside my own factory in Dubai. I work with the apparel group, I work with the Lulu group… so all their goods also stopped.” He also added, “It is not their fault. Everything is happening because of this war.”
Has Noida’s business fallen by 40%?
Thakral clearly said that ‘If we talk about our Noida due to Trump tariff and its war with Iran, Israel, then at least 40% of our business is down today.’ He told that ‘he has talked to the government. The government has also given us a package of Rs 400 crores a few days ago…and now some more, our RoS steel has been extended for six months.”
He also said that “I had talked to Piyush Goyal ji. He said, have some courage, work… the government will do something else to help us.” Thakral finally said that the garment industry is the largest employment generating sector after agriculture. In such a situation, if this crisis continues for a long time, the livelihood of millions of people may be affected.
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