"Trump tariffs bring India’s massive garment industry to its knees", 17 October 2025

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...just seven weeks after the Trump administration imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian exports, many of Tiruppur’s garment factories have ground to a halt. The slowdown has rippled through a vast network of hulking plants and small workshops, which employ more than 600,000 people. Thousands of fabric cutters, thread trimmers and sewing machine operators are suddenly out of work.

“Production has fallen by 25 percent across the board,” said G. Sampath, general secretary of the Center of Indian Trade Unions in Tiruppu...a third of the apparel manufactured here is normally shipped to American retailers, including Walmart, Target and Sears.

Interviews with more than a dozen factory workers, labor contractors and business executives revealed how rapidly President Donald Trump’s trade war has upended lives and livelihoods across Tiruppur...Migrant laborers from rural villages have been sent home. Those still employed on the production lines said their hours and wages have been slashed. Exporters faced with frozen or canceled orders are focused on shipping out existing inventory, fearing new stock will go unsold; some said U.S. buyers have begun demanding discounts of up to 20 percent to offset the cost of tariffs...

Mohan Shankar, managing partner of Geena Garments, which manufactures...for brands like H&M, said “the most important thing for us now is not to look at profit margins, but to manage cash flow. It is a period of survival for us.”

With U.S. buyers cutting or delaying orders, Shankar said he plans to reduce production for the American market by nearly 70 percent...

Most manufacturers in Tiruppur produce low-margin, mass-market clothes...leaving little room to pass on additional costs...

“Any discount” for American buyers “is not at all sustainable,” John said...And some of his customers, he added, “are demanding 10 to 20 percent.”...

...there are fears that Indian manufacturers could quickly lose their U.S. market share to competitors like Bangladesh and Vietnam, which face only 20 percent tariffs. “It will be easy for [American] companies to make the switch,”...

Sanoj Kumar, 32, recalled rushing to finish and ship final orders for his employer before the heightened duties went into effect.

“They made us work day and night to get everything out in time,” said Kumar. “The brands even had agents come here to supervise and put pressure.” Days later, he said, he and his colleagues were told not to report to work. There were no more orders to fill.

Kumar, also from Bihar, moved to Tiruppur as a teenager, following his uncles to the garment factories...In recent months, he said, nearly all of them have returned home.

“Workers roam from company to company in search of shifts but find none,” said Kumar...