A large proportion of the manufacturing in the Indian garment industry is for the export market. The garment export industry is mainly concentrated in urban regions around Bangalore in Karnataka, Chennai and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, and in Gurugram, Faridabad Noida around National Capital Region. There is a significant wage difference among garment workers in different Indian states.

The garment industry uses low wage states as the reason to oppose wage increase in states with higher wages. This is exactly what the garment units in Karnataka are doing. They argue since minimum wages in Karnataka are higher than in other states increasing wages would have an adverse impact on an industry that is already facing tough international competition.

Karnataka’s garment units threaten to shift to Telangana when the issue of wage revision comes up. That means management has the upper hand in determining the minimum wages of workers in the textile industry, spinning industry and the printing and dyeing industry. Determination of the minimum wage is regulated by the Minimum Wages Act. Garment and textile industries in the state argue they are incurring losses and so are unable to implement the Minimum Wages Act.