After the announcement of demonetisation move by the government, some industries and its workers are going through a tough time. In fact, a large number of people have already lost their jobs as production gets hit, especially in labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, garments, leather and jewellery.
Around 4 lakh people, most of them are daily wagers might have either lost their jobs or shunned their work for a time being, due to the lack of payment. The number is only going to increase till the situations turns normal, said senior industry executives as per a report in Financial Express.
However, they said this figure is based on anecdotal evidence and an exact number may appear in the weeks to come.
According to Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) vice-chairman Ravi Sehgal, although some of the labourers are already into the banking system, they aren’t willing to accept payment into their bank account. Actually, they fear that if the amount would exceed Rs. 50,000 (a year), they might lose their below poverty line (BPL) status.
Losing BPL status, ultimately lead them to be stripped of various subsidy benefits.
Many export promotion councils warned of lesser production in a meeting with commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. The situation is alarming for the economy sector. They are asking for at least a tenfold hike in the cash withdrawal limit from the current to enable certain essential business transactions.
Nearly a fifth of around 32 million people employed in the textile and garment sector are facing issues. A lot of them are already unwaged, while others are apprehensive of such a fate.
As 70% of garment industry workers in hubs like Tirupur, are migrant, majority of them do not have a bank account. Likewise, 20-25% of the nearly 2.5 lakh workers in the leather industry too have been affected. Besides, 15-20% of workers in the jewellery sector, are facing problems due to demonetisation.
