Eid wasn’t the same this year for Faiyaz Ahmed Mir and his family. Unlike every year, celebrations were muted this year with Mir’s leather business coming to a standstill second time since March 2020.

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“There is no income and we’re spending currently from our savings. So this year Eid wasn’t celebrated the way we usually enjoy festivals. No new clothes or anything, only stuck to what’s needed, and spent on that. We’ve even cut down household income till things get better,” says Mir, who runs High Design, leather products manufacturing business in Mumbai’s Dharavi.

Mir, who used to have a leather store and a manufacturing unit, shut his store during COVID last year and has temporarily closed the factory also now due to lack of orders. Mir supplies leather tissue boxes, folders, etc to high-end hotels in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad and with the hospitality business severely impacted as well, he has been receiving no orders.

Like Mir, Dharavi, located in the heart of Mumbai is home to over 20,000 small and medium businesses and units. The well-known leather industry here attracts clients from across the globe.

But the past few years haven’t been easy. In 2016, it was hit badly by demonetisation, then came GST woes, followed by a slowdown and then the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. Now, a second wave and yet another stringent lockdown has dealt a massive blow to the city’s famous leather market.

Mohammed Husain’s HN Leather, which makes leather bags, wallets, jackets and other products for customers across India has had no business for the past 2.5 months. From a monthly turnover of Rs 15-16 lakh, Husain is now staring at zero orders and zero income.

“We get orders from all over India and also supply products to Crawford market here. But we’re not getting any new orders since the past few months. I have to pay rent, electricity and pay my workers. But I have had no income to do any of that,” he adds.

After months of being forced shut during the first wave in 2020, Husain’s business was seeing a full recovery between October to February before coming to a screeching halt yet again in April.

Husain had to let most of his workers return to their hometowns are he wasn’t in a position to pay them. From about 22 workers earlier, he is now left with about 4 workers in case any orders come in.

On the other hand, Tajuddin Shaikh, who owns a unit and store Leather Junction, is only able to pay workers 50 percent of their pay.

“I told the workers I can pay 50% salary so whoever could stay stayed and rest went back home. With no income it’s difficult for me to pay them. I also have to pay Rs 40,000 in rent for the store but I’m unable to,” he adds.

Unlike the nationwide lockdown in 2020, factories can remain open now in Mumbai. Even though people are allowed to work in the small units in Dharavi, lack of workforce and an acute shortage of raw materials is impairing whatever little orders some of the units are able to get, says Megha Gupta, founder of Dharavimarket.com.

Working with 250-300 craftsmen, Dharavi Market is a social enterprise that helps leather craftsmen in Dharavi generate more business and jobs through online, corporate sales and exports orders.

“The first wave was far worse as no one was allowed to work even though they lived and worked in the same place. This time, even though retail stores are completely shut, in factories, people are able to work. But there is a raw material shortage. Whoever had raw materials continued working in the first few weeks of April, but orders have declined drastically,” Gupta says.

Most workers have also returned to their hometowns, so workshops are either shut or are working with barely 2-3 workers, she adds. Mir and Husain are also facing the same issue of most workers returning, not just because of lack of income, but also out of the fear of rising infections.

“Most have gone back. Whoever is left here is also planning to go back. They’ve asked us to call when work resumes, but looking at the situation and the uncertainty, I am not sure how many will return,” Mir says.

Megha says that many workshops that shut during the first wave never re-opened for businesses because the workers went back home during the first wave and have not returned. With the cases surging in rural areas as well, their issues are only getting worse, she says.

“Craftsmen that we’ve been in touch with are saying villages are badly hit and there have been a lot of deaths. So, everyone is scared since more people are falling sick,” she adds.

Dharavi Market’s business too has fallen by nearly 80-90 percent in the last three months with orders declining from mid-March. Whatever orders they have been receiving have proven hard to fulfill amid shortage of raw materials like canvas and the fittings and runners that go on their products.

“We’re trying to engage some of the craftsmen by giving them orders from our own inventory. We have some export orders but the canvas for the bags comes from a textile mill in Bhiwandi that hasn’t been able to open due to the surge in cases, so we’re finding it tough to fulfill these orders,” Megha adds.

Meanwhile, some manufacturers are adopting online platforms hoping to make their business pandemic and lockdown-proof, and to be able to reach a wider audience.

Husain says that they’re in the process of tying up with Flipkart and Amazon to sell whatever they’re able to manufacture with the scant workforce.

But the process hasn’t been smooth for them.

“We started selling some of our products on Amazon and Flipkart, but now we’re not getting any orders. Moreover, we’ll need to put entire stock online and that entire process will take at least 2-4 months before its up and running,” Leather Junction’s Shaikh says.

Leather manufacturers are now hoping for some financial support for the industry from the state government or are hoping for waivers on fixed costs such as rent and electricity.

Megha says that the only hope is that things will pick up as restrictions ease.

“We were hoping to kickstart business post May 15, but the lockdown has been extended. We hope after June 1 at least, the government allows shops to open at least once or twice a week so we can open the supply chain again,” she adds.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:May 18, 2021 10:31 PM IST