Surat, Mar 25 (UNI) The century-old zari industry here is facing a number of problems and lack of effective intervention will lead to closing down the sector, a study revealed.

The study, conducted by Dr Manish Siddhapurya and Dr Renuka Garg of the Department of Business and Industrial Management in South Gujarat University, showed that the zari sector in Surat is a small scale traditional sector and around one lakh people are working in this sector. There are around 4,000 units in Surat and most of them are working from homes.

''There are around 500 semi-composite units, but most of them are facing problems,'' said Mr Siddhapurya.

He said major problems affecting the zari industry included product quality, inferior technology and non-availability of raw materials.

''And as a majority of the units are comoposed of family members they are unwilling to share their skill. This also causes problems,'' he added.

According to Ms Garg, ''The main problem with taditional sector is that they are unwilling to improve the quality and not ready to standardise the technology.'' Another interesting factor is that zari industry is very much linked with international prices of gold and silver, said Mr Siddhapurya, adding, ''the costs of zari and fabric should be mutually related. But present conditions of zari industry does not allow it to be competitive in the market.'' UNI MS SSS NV1427