Export units, which account for over 25 per cent of the nation's total exports, situated in non-containment zones of Gujarat have been cleared to resume operations from today (25 April), reports Hindustan Times.

In the first phase, the State Government has allowed the factories with pending export orders to resume operations, given they do not fall in any COVID-19 containment zones.

According to the report, almost 90 per cent of Gujarat's 800 large and 4,53,000 small and medium factories have pending orders and nearly 70 per cent of them are situated in non-containment zones. It should also be noted that about 80 per cent of salt and nearly 70 per cent of jewellery exported from India are from Gujarat.

Hailing the state government’s decision, the director of Ahmedabad Export-Import Development Association (AEIDA), Purvin Mariyankari said that in 2018-19 alone, the exports from Gujarat stood at $67.401 billion.

Meanwhile, former president of the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has expressed apprehensions and said that industries of the state would face difficulty in operating owing to a shortage of workers.

He underscored that migrant worker from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (UP) work in the factories of the State and about 70 per cent of them have already returned to their home States.