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cottage industry woes - II
Chinese goods stifle sports units
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 11
Bogged down by stringent labour regulations from foreign clients and competition from Chinese machine-made sports goods, the sports goods industry here is facing its worst crisis ever. Even the World Cup scheduled for July 2010 has failed to bring cheer to the industry, as it has failed to get any orders.

A worker gives shape to a hockey stick at a sports goods factory in Jalandhar. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan

Over the past one year, export orders have almost dried up, especially in the inflatable balls and cricket equipment, that this city is famous for. Manufacturers say they have been forced to bring down their production by almost 75 per cent, mainly due to the reason that there are almost no orders coming from the USA, Europe and South America. Though the bigger units have so far not retrenched employees, smaller units in Basti Nu and Bhargo camp area, which were doing job works for the bigger units, are now without much work. It is estimated that of the 50,000 people who get direct and indirect employment from this industry, over 15,000 are now without work.

Ashok Katyal, managing director of Sakay Traders, a leading exporter of footballs, says, “The woes of manufacturers began last year, after the global recession cut down on export orders. Now that the market sentiment has improved, the foreign buyers prefer the machine-made Chinese balls as these are less expensive than our hand-stitched balls. But the unfounded controversy over the violation of labour laws by some sports goods manufacturers here is acting like a nail in the coffin. Suddenly, the foreign clients have become very particular and insist on very heavy penalty (sometimes more than a company’s turnover) in case any violation is detected. Though manufacturers can be sure that they are not employing underage workers, they cannot take guarantee of the smaller units where job work like stitching of balls is done.”

He says as a result, manufacturers are also taking only those orders that can be finished in their own units. “As against manufacturing 20,000 balls a day earlier, we are now manufacturing just 4,000 balls a day now,” he adds.

A majority of sports goods exports from the country are from Jalandhar. Over 300 sports items are manufactured by over 100 large units and 20,000 small units in Jalandhar, which includes inflatable balls, cricket bats, hockey sticks, boxing equipment etc. Being a highly labour-intensive cottage industry, thousands of people in the city, as well as nearby towns of Gurdaspur and Batala, have been getting employment through the small job works like stitching of balls, shaping hockey sticks and bats.

According to the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council, Jalandhar accounts for 60 per cent of the total sports goods exports from India. “Sports goods worth over Rs 305.50 crore were exported from Jalandhar in the last fiscal, as against a total export turnover of Rs 586.89 crore. But this year, the situation is quite bad. Between April and August 2009, we have seen the exports decline by 9.67 per cent,” says Tarun Dewan, secretary of the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council.

But two successive years of de-growth are now beginning to take their toll. BK Kohli, director, Vijayanti Sports Specialities, said the situation had been only deteriorating for the past few months. A leading manufacturer of hockey sticks, he said the fall in the export turnover had now forced many manufacturers to turn to the domestic market.