Afghan winter warms up hosiery units

chandigarh: this winter, the beleaguered hosiery industry in ludhiana has finally come out of the cold. woollen garment manufacturers from the city—which accounts for 85 per cent of the hosiery industry in india—are also looking forward to large orders from afghanistan. the industry has already reported a 10 to 15 per cent increase in sales compared to the corresponding period last year.''the season has been good so far and we are expecting further pick up in demand,''says the oswal woollen mills director, dinesh oswal. owm is the promoter of monte carlo and canterbury labels.''the pick up in demand is specially prominent in the lower-end segment,''he says. the views are corroborated by an office bearer of the wool and woollen export promotion council,''inspite of the september 11 happenings, the season is better than the last year and we expect a growth in both the domestic as well as international markets.'' though figures are still to come in, wwepc estimates a growth 10 per cent over last year. the turn of events in afghanistan have further given a leg up to the industry. manufacturers are expecting a part of the multi-billion dollar aid to flow into the city. united nations international development organisation (unido) national expert, deepak arora says,''united nations is sourcing all its requirements for afghanistan through geneva. there are a few companies in ludhiana, including owm, on the panel for sourcing woollen goods and they have already received orders.'' unido is running a industry cluster development programme in ludhiana for the last four years. says dinesh oswal,'' some trading bodies have got in touch with the companies on behalf of the united nations and ''these talks are sure to translate into something concrete.''he maintains that the textile manufacturers had been anticipating this development and were geared to meet the demand. vinod thapar, president, knitwear club, says that the smaller players too are in touch with representatives from un and '' are expecting some positive development to take place in the near future.'' however, there are other who are keeping their fingers crossed. says duke managing director, deepak dumra '' we have not received any orders so far, but expect local companies too to get some orders due to our proximity to that country.'' the industry has been through a rough patch in the last five years after the drying up of rs 500 crore russian export market. says an apparel promotion and export corporation executive based at ludhiana,'' us and europe have emerged as the main markets for exporters in the recent times and after 1996 this is the first time that market is looking up.'' he maintained that though pakistan had got concessions from the us for textile exports, ''the indian suppliers are still preferred due to the uncertainty prevailing in the neighbouring country,'' production control, introduction of new technologies in manufacturing, take cutting measures, availability of better yarn, waste minimisation, cleaner productions, modernisation of designing, cutting and sewing are the main factors identified with the industrial revival. ''manufacturers have been using better quality yarn, which has come to occupy the centrestage in garment manufacturing the world over. this has certainly helped the hosiery manufacturers in ludhiana,'' saya deepak arora.