Impact of Lockdown due to COVID-19 on Apparel and Knitwear Industries of Ludhiana

Abstract

The lockdown due to spread of COVID-19 has been hard-hitting for apparel and knitwear industries of Ludhiana. An attempt was made in the present study to explore the problems due to lockdown and future strategies of Ludhiana industry from 50 industrial units. The data was collected in the lockdown period using a questionnaire. The major concerns of the industry were migration of labour, order cancellations, unavailability of raw material, capital crunch, supply chain disruption and decreased demand because of less footfall of customers in the retail stores even in unlock periods. Though some ray of hope was reflected as 72 per cent industries started producing face masks and PPE kits during lockdown but the industry has to go a long way to tackle with the lockdown problems and their aftermaths and make robust future strategies to overcome the losses. Sourcing alternative raw material from local markets, providing pick and drop facilities to labour to avoid infection, supply chain integration, product line diversification and exploration of new markets was the plan framework of Ludhiana industry for mitigating with the problems arisen due to COVID-19 and its wave of spread in the coming months.