One crore jobs likely to disappear by March
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 04 February 2009, 18:24 IST
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One crore jobs likely to disappear by March
New Delhi: Dip in India's export by 22 percent in January along with the ongoing financial crunch is likely to take away one crore jobs in labor-intensive industries in the current fiscal ending March, forecasts Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO). Reeling under the downturn, industries like textiles, garments, chemicals and gems and jewellery had cut production by 10-50 percent. As per a recent survey by Commerce Ministry, over one lakh people have already lost jobs upto January 15. "Textile garments and handicraft sectors were the worse affected. Together they are set to lose more than 4 million jobs by April 2009. Other sectors that could lose anywhere between 5 and 10 lakh jobs each include gems and jewellery, chemicals and engineering and auto component sectors," Ajai Sahai, Director General of FIEO told The Economic Times. As measures to beat the slump in export, Foreign Minister Paranab Mukherjee said, "We have to focus on domestic demand by primarily stimulating growth in rural areas and highly labour intensive sectors." "Government would at this point concentrate on implementing the stimulus packages announced earlier and ensuring that the job losses are compensated with new ones. There is no problem of finances. There is enough money to fund companies' working capital as well as future projects," mentioned Arun Ramanathan, Finance secretary.

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