Till date, all matches of the Indian Cricket League have featured sports goods supplied by Robinson Sports, the Jalandhar-based manufacturer of sports goods. Despite this and other feathers in its cap, the company, which is more than 71 years old, is struggling to stay afloat.
A struggle for survival is what marks the approximately 1,000 big and small sports goods manufacturers based in Jalandhar. The largest sports gear manufacturing hub in the country, once a thriving centre of business, is now seeing turbulent times. In its heyday, the industry provided direct employment to more than 1.5 lakh people. Currently, industrialists admit that their workers, who were skilled in stitching scores of footballs a day or making the best of cricket bats, are pulling rickshaws to earn their livelihood. Orders are decreasing, pulling these industries into a vicious circle of dwindling revenues.
England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were earlier considered major markets for the Jalandhar-based cricket gear manufacturers. Since these nations are now reeling under the financial crisis, there has been a demand drop of more than 60% from these nations. Industrialists say it will take about two years for these countries to come back to good financial health, and the orders to roll again. They also admit that the only nation from where they continue to get orders, albeit with a fall, is the Caribbean.
Surjit Singh Jolly, chairman of Robinson sports, who has earlier held the important positions of vice-chairman, Sports Goods Export Promotion Council, and the chairman, Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Jalandhar, says the sports industry in the country is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore. ?The contribution of Jalandhar to the industry is 60%. Such is our potential that if the right efforts are put in, the industry can grow up to Rs 50,000 crore,? he asserts.
These ?right efforts?, however, seem to be amiss. Industrialists admit that till mid-2008, units based in Jalandhar made up to 25,000 to 30,000 footballs a day. Now, he says, their production is down to a mere 5,000 to 7,000 footballs daily. ?For the 2010 FIFA World Cup, these units still have no orders. While 80% of the orders have gone to China, the rest have gone to Pakistan,? Jolly points out. ?Compare this to FIFA World Cup, 2006, when footballs worth Rs 168.84 crore were exported,? he says.
Owners of units that specialise in making footballs admit that local companies are now not able to meet the terms and conditions of importers. ?We don?t have the infrastructure to meet their demands. Importers want machine-stitched balls, while the work here was done primarily through manual labour, and now that revenues are also low, local industrialists do not have the capital to set up the infrastructure for the purpose,? says RC Kohli, owner of Beat All Sports, which focuses on manufacturing footballs and hockey sticks.
A major factor troubling local industrialists is the competition posed by multi-national companies, which have squeezed the business for local manufacturers. Edged out by big MNCs, local industries have now turned to other lines of business. Bal Krishen Kohli?s unit, Sports Specialists, earlier manufactured cricket and hockey gear. But with orders for these products steadily going down, he is now focussing on the manufacture of sports clothing and shoes. ?We have no choice if we want to survive,? admits Kohli. ?It is a source of good revenue for us, and also provides employment for our workers,? he states.
Jolly says that the units based in Jalandhar have been making cricket bats, footballs and other sports gear for leading global companies. ?We have the expertise to make the best of products, but lack support from the government and this has hit the industry hard. For one, the government must provide us with a good research and development centre, with focuses on diversification and raising the standards of our products. The government must also set up a training institute for the labour required by the industry. The sports industry of Jalandhar has been a good earner of foreign exchange for the government. Whatever the industry has achieved till now has been entirely through its own efforts. When times are harsh on us, the government should plough something back into the industry,? he demands.
According to data compiled by the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council, exports from April to August 2008-09 stood at 20,927 lakh in India. In the corresponding period in 2009-10, the figure came down to 18,903 lakh, registering a fall of 9.67%.
