Rajasthan Seeing Unemployment Issues: Over 800 Factories were closed down

Over the previous 2 months, over 800 factories were closed down in Rajasthan. With Rajasthan seeing unemployment issues, there are concerns that the brunt can be felt in other regions as well. As a result of losses and closure of factories, ~3 lakh people are now unemployed. Coming to the districts, Jodhpur district was most affected by this unemployment. Numerous Industries such as handicraft, textile, spices and guar gum continue to face a loss of over 2 thousand crores every year.

Since Rajasthan is seeing unemployment issues, there are continuous attacks of Houthi rebels on cargo ships. As a result of this, shipping companies increased freight for transporting Rajasthan’s goods abroad.

Hence, orders worth hundreds of crores are now cancelled.

Notably, handicraft exports in Rajasthan happen primarily from Jodhpur, then Jaipur, Ratangarh, Sardarshahar. Wood-iron furniture, small marble items, bone work items, etc. are exported here. Industry estimates show that annual turnover remain in the range of INR 5000 to INR 6000 crores.

Right now, the problem was further exaggerated due to Houthi rebels. Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue to attack all cargo ships which are heading to and coming from Suez Canal, the “Red Sea” sea route joining Asia to Europe and America, with missiles and bombs.

Because of these issues, cargo ships decided to change their route. This has led doubling of sea distance of cities like France-Italy-England from Rajasthan. Therefore, freight companies increased their freight (shipment fare) by ~10x. While earlier it used to be ~USD 500 dollars to send one particular container, now the fare stands at USD 4000.

Because of costly transportation, the European companies are now purchasing goods from countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and China. These companies used to buy goods from Rajasthan earlier. This is main reason why Rajasthan seeing unemployment issues.