Surat textile exodus

Migrant textile workers have been leaving Surat in large numbers as factory cutbacks and a cooking-gas shortage hit India’s biggest man-made fabric hub. (indianexpress.com) The Indian Express reported on April 9 that about 40% of Surat’s migrant workforce had headed home, with industry estimates putting the drop at nearly 8 lakh workers. The report said fabric output had fallen to about half of normal levels as yarn costs rose and demand weakened. (indianexpress.com) The immediate squeeze was not a lack of jobs alone. Workers told ANI at Udhna railway station on March 22 that they were leaving because they could not get liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, for cooking, even though work was still available. (thehindu.com) Surat’s textile economy runs on migrant labor from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, and it also depends on petrochemical inputs for polyester and other man-made fibres. When crude prices jumped during the West Asia war, yarn and fuel costs rose together and mills began cutting shifts, operating days and purchases. (indianexpress.com; business-standard.com) Business Standard reported on April 3 that the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association had moved many units to a five-day week from seven, while some factories cut production cycles from 24 hours to 12. Industry office-bearers told the paper the sector was losing about ₹90 crore to ₹100 crore a day. (business-standard.com) The labor unrest in Surat also fits into a wider run of factory protests across industrial India. The Indian Express reported on April 14 that workers in Surat, Barauni, Manesar, Panipat and Noida had been demanding higher minimum wages, better overtime pay and safer working conditions after the Labour Codes took effect in November 2025. (indianexpress.com) That April 14 report linked the recent protests to the rising black-market price of LPG cylinders, which workers said had pushed household costs sharply higher. It also said protests in Surat had been reported since March, alongside similar wage-linked unrest in other industrial belts. (indianexpress.com) A separate Indian Express report said Surat normally produces around 6 crore metres of fabric a day per factory cluster average, while Business Standard cited an industry estimate of nearly 7 crore metres a day before the downturn. Both reports said output had since dropped by roughly half. (indianexpress.com; business-standard.com) Some social-media posts have claimed union leaders were detained during the Surat disturbances, but I could not verify those detentions in reliable published reporting. What is documented is a broader pattern of police action and arrests in other April 2026 industrial protests, including Noida, as governments tried to contain unrest tied to wages and living costs. (indianexpress.com; wwd.com) For now, the pictures from Surat’s stations point to the same problem described in the reporting: workers are leaving faster than mills can replace them, and the city’s textile industry is still waiting for fuel supply, raw-material prices and labor availability to stabilize. (thehindu.com; business-standard.com)