Integration into a Global Production Network: Impacts on Labour in Tiruppur's Rural Hinterlands

This paper focuses on the impact of a global production network on the local economy in which production is located, with a particular focus on labour. The network concerned involves knitwear production in Tiruppur, southern India. This has transformed the region surrounding Tiruppur as well as the town, as knitwear production has spread into the countryside. Many of those previously employed in agriculture have moved into knitwear manufacturing and associated activities. This paper uses data collected over a 30-year period in villages located 25--30 km north-west of Tiruppur to show how the local rural economy has changed as the knitwear sector has expanded. The knitwear industry has provided direct employment to a large number of people from less well-placed households, which now commute to work, and it has also pushed up wages in agriculture and other occupations, including those who are not directly related to the knitwear sector. Importantly, the impacts of the expansion of knitwear production have been highly differentiated: access to new opportunities in knitwear has been structured by gender, caste and age. The state has also played an important role. The paper draws attention to the significant effect on the local economy of welfare measures such as subsidised food and the national rural employment guarantee scheme.