The primary reason cited for the park’s closure is a decline in the prices of raw materials, specifically cloth, in the national market.
The Sircilla Textile Park has been temporarily closed, as reported by cloth manufacturers who operated weaving units in the park. They mentioned that they were not receiving profitable prices for the cloth they produced.
The primary reason cited for the park’s closure is a decline in the prices of raw materials, specifically cloth, in the national market. This issue arose due to a crisis in the textile sector. Manufacturers added that a significant amount of cloth had been accumulated in the country due to a lack of exports, a situation that had worsened since the Russia-Ukraine war.
Manufacturers, who used to receive Rs 14 to Rs 15 per metre of cloth, were now finding it challenging to get more than Rs 12. Weavers, already facing difficulties due to increased yarn and chemical prices, decided to close the park to avoid further losses. Additionally, there were existing stocks of polyester cloth valued at about Rs 25 crore in the park.
The park, established in 60 acre between Sarampalli and Baddenapalli of Thangallapalli mandal in 2002-03, employed 1,500 to 2,000 people. Unfortunately, all of them lost their jobs with the park’s closure. The park housed 165 industrial units and 27 commercial units, with 1,475 modern rapier looms in use across 115 units to weave cloth.
Earlier, manufacturers solely relied on private orders. However, the previous State government had provided orders for Bathukamma sarees, as well as orders for Ramzan and Christmas, to generate employment for weavers in the park. Besides government orders, power bills for powerlooms from 2010 to 2014 and 2015 to 2020 were also reimbursed.
As government orders were received, manufacturers gradually moved away from private orders. The current challenge stems from the fact that private orders are now minimal. Previously, Sircilla cloth was supplied to various states, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Ahmedabad, Kerala, and Delhi. Presently, the supply is limited to Surat in Gujarat and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Cloth manufacturing units in other parts of the country had already closed, and they had to shut down their units to avoid further losses.