Indian migrant workers fled lockdown but now factories offer free travel, food and housing to lure them back

Businesses are reopening after growth forecasts suggested the economy was heading for its worst performance in decades

But there’s a shortage of labour, adding to challenges for companies and pushing up their costs

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Migrant workers travelling back to their villages near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Photo: EPA

Published: 2:00pm, 6 Jul 2020Updated: 8:21pm, 6 Jul 2020

A mass exodus of workers that followed India’s harsh lockdown is forcing businesses to review their labour policies as they try to lure the people back with incentives as the economy reopens.

While some companies are promising benefits such as free travel tickets, housing and food to draw workers to urban areas, others are managing by hiring new faces from nearby locations. Some are trying a mix of both.

“We have offered food and other incentives to woo them back to sites,” said V.V. Benugopal, country manager with Linfox Logistics India, a unit of Australia’s Linfox Group.

The company is also skilling a new workforce to mitigate potential delays in return of the migrant labour and arranging buses for workers’ transport, he said.

India tried to stop the migration of labour in the initial weeks of its stringent stay-at-home restrictions. However, the daily wage labourers started heading back to their rural homes after running out of food and cash in cities.

Disturbing scenes of workers and their families walking for miles, reminiscent of days after India’s partition of 1947, forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to facilitate their return. Later, the nation’s administration allowed businesses to reopen after growth forecasts suggested the economy was heading for its worst performance in decades.

The result is a shortage of labour. It’s adding to challenges for companies and pushing up their labour costs as they try to match incentives that are being provided by the government back in their rural homes.