"Walmart turns to India to avoid high tariffs, but garment workers scarce", 9 May 2025

In a garment hub in south India, R.K. Sivasubramaniam is fielding requests from Walmart and Costco who want to sidestep higher U.S. tariffs faced by rival Asian suppliers, Bangladesh and China. But rows of idle sewing lines at his factory lay bare his biggest challenge. .. Tiruppur city in the southern state of Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly one-third of the country's $16 billion in apparel exports, and is staring at a huge opportunity as U.S. buyers explore ramping up sourcing from India in the face of heftier tariffs on other Asian hubs. U.S. President Donald Trump plans to hit India, the world's sixth largest textile and apparel exporter, with a 26% tariff from July, below the 37% imposed on Bangladesh, 46% on Vietnam and 145% on China - all of which are bigger American suppliers. Those tariffs will make apparel from India much more competitive with both Bangladesh and China.

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.. India's hopes of capitalising on its tariff advantage are hindered by a skilled labour crunch, limited economies of scale, and high costs. ..Garment exporters in India say workers have to be trained and many leave within months to work at smaller, unorganised units that allow longer hours and pay more. The larger manufacturers can't match them due to foreign clients' requirements on cost and workers' conditions.. .."We need at least 100,000 workers," said Kumar Duraiswamy of the exporters association in Tiruppur, where he said more than 1 million people currently work.