Coronavirus: India’s migrant workers are leaving cities. That’s a big problem for the economy

Trauma from a lockdown handled poorly by the Modi government is making many migrant workers want to return to their hometowns

Some 4 in 10 workers are migrants and to stop them from leaving, several states have cancelled train and bus services

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Many migrant workers do not want to return to the big cities after India’s lockdown left them without jobs. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:00am, 7 May 2020Updated: 1:27pm, 7 May 2020

In Surat, a textile hub in India’s western state of Gujarat, losses are mounting for Bhagwandas Maloo, whose five garment factories producing traditional festive outfits have been shut for seven weeks due to the coronavirus lockdown.

He was relieved when the government announced it would allow some businesses to resume production this week. But traumatised by the lockdown, Maloo’s group of about 250 migrant workers, who are skilled craftsmen from India’s northern and eastern regions, announced they wanted to return to their villages.

“I tried to talk to them, but they said their families are very worried,” Maloo said, adding that as the local labour force was less skilled, production could only restart in October and this would result in sales falling by some 80 per cent this year compared to the last.

Maloo’s story echoes across industries in India, where 40 per cent of the workforce is made up of migrant labour.

A health worker checks the temperature of a labourer in Ahmedabad, India. Photo: Reuters

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government abruptly announced a lockdown on March 24 as coronavirus infections rose, millions of informal migrant workers – who were left with no jobs, money or food – began flocking back to their villages, some undertaking the journey on foot.

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