AP PHOTOS: Decades-old weaving businesses near India’s financial capital struggle to survive

By RAFIQ MAQBOOL and ASHWINI BHATIA

BHIWANDI, India (AP) — Abdul Sattar stands in a dimly lit aisle surrounded by dozens of electric-powered looms that make a rhythmic din several decibels above what is considered healthy for a human ear. With his flowing white beard and a wispy head of hair, he could be mistaken for a professor or a philosopher, but, at 70, he has spent most of his life working 12-hour shifts on power looms in poorly ventilated, noisy workshops.

When he arrived in Bhiwandi as a 15-year-old boy, workshops weaving cloth on the looms were thriving, providing ready jobs for many unskilled workers from far-flung villages in north India. The wages were poor and the hours long, but it was steady employment.

Abdul Sattar, 70, untangles a piece of thread from his hair as he operates a power weaving loom at a workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

In recent years, however, about 30% of the looms have shut down, according to Abdul Rashid Tahir Momin, President of Bhiwandi Powerloom Weavers Federation.

Increasing yarn prices and more expensive electricity supply are making them less competitive against cheap Chinese imports. Power looms, an innovation of the early 19th century, are also an old technology. They are being replaced by newer automatic looms that make higher quality cloth faster and need fewer operators.

Reels of yarn feed a power weaving loom at a workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Ghulam Ahmad inspects a sheet of cloth for defects at a power loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A worker keeps thread bobbins tucked in the waist of his trousers at a power weaving loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Bhiwandi is about 58 kilometers (36 miles) from India’s financial capital, Mumbai. Its proximity to the sea and the large metropolis make it an attractive location for small manufacturers and suppliers.

The future of the roughly 300,000 power looms still operating in Bhiwandi is uncertain.

A worker smokes a beedi, a thin leaf-wrapped cigarette, during a break at a power weaving loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Wrapped warp beam yarns for weaving cloth on a power loom are kept outside a workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A worker gets his beard trimmed by a barber as others take a break outside a power loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Workers measure cloth at a power weaving loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A worker stands next to wrapped bundles of cloth manufactured at a power loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Ishtaq Ahmad Ansari, 54, who used to own 110 power looms, had to shut his business down four years ago and now works as a contractor in another factory.

“This industry was once the second largest employer after farming. It is sad to see it in such a state,” Ansari says.

Cobwebs cover the machines at a non-operating power loom workshop in Bhiwandi, India, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

While loom owners are grappling with whether to use loans to modernize, Sattar has decided to stay put in the profession he knows best.

“I have managed to provide for my family all these years. I will keep working as long as my body allows me, but I am sure about one thing: I don’t want my son to be in the same profession,” Sattar says.