"West Asia War Hits Textiles: Orders Crash, Costs Surge, Small Businesses Struggle In Noida", 17 April 2026

Firoz, a worker at a wholesale garment factory outlet...was scrolling through his phone...

In a store that should have been packed or busy tallying orders...he said the business had slowed dramatically, with orders dropping to just 10 per cent since the war in West Asia began...

Sanjay Enterprises*...has also fallen unusually quiet...

The owner, Alok*, whose business supplies unfinished products to manufacturing companies and to custom exports, said the company is facing losses of up to 30 per cent.

“I have to pay for food and accommodation for over 100 workers, but none of them have any work to do right now,” he said. He added that if the workers left for their hometowns, they might never come back. “I am purchasing LPG for them, I don’t have any other options.”

The company manufactures cotton webbing, double-sided fashion/body tape, narrow fabric/woven tapes, and outer elastic tape.

India's primary import sources for Monoethylene Glycol (MEG), an important raw material for polyester fibre, are from West Asia...The delivery chain has been impacted since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Industry players say the disruption has triggered a broader surge in input costs across the value chain. Amit Sethi, Managing Director of Oriental Fashions, described the situation as an “absolute disaster”, noting that “sewing thread prices have gone up by 15–20% over and above raw materials which have a similar hike.”...“products connected with petroleum… have gone up by almost 70 to 72%.”

In March 2026, India’s textile exports declined by 9.91 per cent year-on-year, while apparel exports saw a sharper contraction of 18.99 per cent during the same period...

Sethi said such cost escalations are severely squeezing exporters, particularly because existing orders cannot be re-priced. “Margins do not allow us to absorb such drastic hikes,” he said. “Presently for all orders already booked and committed which are in the pipeline we cannot pass [the costs on].” He warned that if these costs are reflected in future pricing, global buyers may shift to other countries offering similar products at lower rates...

Chandrima Chatterjee, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), says raw material prices have risen...“...prices have fluctuated by as much as 30 per cent,"...

The textile industry was only recovering from a steep 50 per cent US tariff for over five months in the previous fiscal year...

"...existing orders have not been fulfilled due to a shortage of raw materials,” Danish Rahman, who runs Young Stallions, a...company manufacturing leather goods, said.

“Prices increase by 10 per cent fortnightly or biweekly, due to which we are not in a position to quote any number. Everything is connected. For instance, the polythene has increased by ₹100 per kg, which has affected sales,” Rahman said.

Mohd. Javed, the owner of a wholesale garment shop, said he is bracing for tougher times ahead as he sat in an already empty store...

Javed had to let go of two of his employees as a cost cutting measure...

Mohd. Shakeel Ahmad, an employee at a wholesale chikankaari garment shop...fears that if the West Asia crisis persists, he may lose his job if the owner decides to cut down jobs.

“At least during COVID, people were assured that the pandemic would end soon. But the end of the war is nowhere in sight...”

Chatterjee explained that the West Asia region itself was a big market for India, so the market is impacted furthermore...

...Sethi warned that disruptions could deepen if energy supplies remain unstable...

With factories now heavily dependent on consistent fuel supply, any prolonged shortage could halt production across units.