DWINDLING INTEREST
THE TIRUPPUR FABRIC
It is a self-developed knitwear cluster of 13km radius that came up in the 1980s
A city of 1.2 million people, located some 500 km to the south-west of Chennai
$4 billion worth of knitwear garments exported from India in FY22; the US (40%), Europe (30%), UAE, Canada, Australia and some African countries are the main buyers
Tiruppur accounts for 1 per cent of India’s total annual garment exports of $400 billion
It is home to 3,000 garment making units and 3,500 allied units
The cluster has a garment production capacity of 1 million pieces per day
Employs around 700,000 people, mostly migrant labourers
People from around Tamil Nadu prefer jobs involving computers instead of sewing machines