A top official said Dollar Industries Limited, a Kolkata-based hosiery brand, has hit price hikes on its products for the fifth time during the current financial year to counter the sharp rise in raw materials and other costs.
“Since November 2020, every month we have been increasing prices from 1–1.5% to 4%. On Monday, the dollar announced a 1.5% price hike, ”said Vinod Kumar Gupta, MD.
Justifying the price increase, he said that in recent times the prices of cotton have gone up by 30% and the price of yarn is 40-45%. This led to a 15% increase in the cost of finished products and it was completely passed on to the channels.
In addition, the dollar was the cost of packaging materials, goods, chemicals and dyes, inflation, an increase in the minimum wage, and an increase in labor costs.
“We have written to the Union Finance Minister and the Union Textiles Minister that there is a demand for intervention due to the huge increase in the prices of cotton and yarn, affecting most of the MSMEs. Small players from West Bengal are in deep trouble due to lack of raw materials and 50% reduction in production. Some of them may be forced to close their units, ”he said.
Mr. Gupta said that he was not sure about the decline in yarn prices in the near future and indicated that the industry could go for another set of price hikes by April 2021.
Despite the 45-day lockdown, the company ended the last fiscal with a total revenue of ₹ 974 crore, up by 10–12% in the current financial year. He said that the plan to reach the turnover of the dollar’s 2,000 crores has been delayed till March 2025 due to Kovid-19.
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