The story
Ludhiana's hosiery trade grew from hand-operated knitting machines making socks and woollen vests for the cold north Indian market. After 1947, skilled families who moved from west Punjab added knitting, dyeing and stitching units around the old city. Woollen sweaters made the city's name, and over time units added cotton and blended knitwear so the business is no longer only a winter trade. Today the cluster runs from small job-work knitting shops to large branded companies that sell across India and export.
In numbers
The knitted outerwear cluster had 14,000 functional units, a turnover of ₹5,000 crore, exports of ₹1,000 crore and employment of 4,00,000.
MSME-DI Ludhiana — Brief Industrial Profile of Ludhiana District · 2012Ludhiana's knitwear industry manufactures around 90 per cent of the woollens in the country.
FashionUnited — Smuggled Chinese hosiery eat into India's profits · 2012
Ways in for a newcomer
- Job-work knitting, linking or stitching for established brands in the off-season
- Yarn dyeing, fabric processing or printing as a service to garment units
- Supplying trims, labels, packaging and buttons to knitwear makers
- Trading Ludhiana knitwear wholesale to retailers in other states or online
Problems the cluster faces
- Woollen demand depends on the length and severity of winter
- Competition from cheaper imported and smuggled knitwear
- Dyeing units face strict effluent rules
- High power cost and shortage of skilled labour
Businesses to start here
Cotton Knitted (Hosiery) Fabric Unit →Interlock (Double-Knit) Cotton Fabric →Bleaching and Dyeing of Cotton Knitted Fabric (Job Work) →Cotton Yarn Dyeing (Hank and Package Dyeing) →Knitted Woollen Mufflers →Knitted Woollen Vests →Kids' Woollen Sweater Knitting →Knitted Socks Making →Gents T-Shirts →Track Suit Stitching →Men's Undergarments (Briefs, Trunks and Vests) →Computerised Embroidery (Job Work) →