Showing posts with label commerce secretary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commerce secretary. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Global downturn adds to 15 lakh layoffs in India

With global downturn taking its toll on India, about 15 lakh people employed in the exporting sector will be out of jobs by March this year, Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said today.

"We have figures from August till middle of January. We estimate something like between 7-10 lakh job losses till now," Pillai told a news channel in an interview.

He said if the slowdown, especially in the US, Europe and Japan continues, another five lakh people would be unemployed by March.

Earlier in the day, Pillai told reporters that the prospects for the country's outward trade look bleak for the next fiscal as well.

"It would be an achievement if we reach $160 billion-mark in 2009-2010," he said.

After an impressive expansion of over 30 per cent in the first six months of 2008-09, export growth has turned negative with the result that the total shipments in the current fiscal would fall much short of the $200 billion target.

Though exports account for less than 20 per cent of the country's GDP, the sector is highly employment oriented with the total estimated 6.5 crore workforce.

"Exports are going to come down and we have to live with it," Pillai said.

Agencies

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Textile cos to axe five lakh employees

Even as the Indian government is getting ready to undertake a nationwide survey of over 800 companies to find out the exact job losses in India due to the global financial crisis, the first report of pink slips is out.

According to estimates of the textile ministry, there will be job losses of about five lakh in the next five months. This was disclosed by commerce secretary GK Pillai on the sidelines of a government-industry interaction organised by Ficci.

In a presentation made before the commerce secretary, Shishir Jaipuria, deputy chairman, Confederation of Indian Textiles Industry, said the growth of the textile sector fell from 5.2% in April-September 2007 to a minuscule 0.3% in the same period this fiscal.

He said the textiles and clothing industry employs 35 million workers directly, adding that already 7 lakh jobs are estimated to have been lost and another 5 lakh would lose jobs by March 2009.

Financial results of 50 major textile companies listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange shows that though turnover increased, profits became negative in the second quarter this year. In the remaining last two quarters, even turnover will decline, he warned. Smaller units are already suffering significant production loss, Jaipuria added.

For instance, the profitability of renowned companies like Bombay Dyeing fell from (-)370% in the first quarter over the same quarter last year, to (-)828% in the second quarter as against last year’s Q2.

Over 50% of textile products manufactured in the country is being exported. US, EU and Japan constitute over 60% of our textiles exports. All the three countries are in a recession mode.

US’s import of textile products from India during January-August 2008 declined by 1.56% in value terms, compared to the same period of 2007. For garments, the decline was higher at 4.8%. The imports demand of Indian textiles in EU and Japan is declining on similar trend, though data is not available yet.

To read on...click on the link below:

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Textile-cos-to-axe-five-lakh-employees-in-next-five-months/389024/

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