The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) recently organised an international conference, Global Textile Conclave, coinciding with the associations’ 60th year celebrations. The two day conference was inaugurated by Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu. Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani was the Guest of Honor.
The Hon’ble Vice President of India conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr. Suresh Kotak, Chairman, Kotak & Co. and also gave away Pioneering Awards to Mr. Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman & Managing Director, LMW Ltd., Mr. Shekhar Agarwal, Vice Chairman, RSWM LTd., Mr. P. Nataraj, Managing Director, KPR Mills Ltd. and Mr. Neeraj Jain, Joint Managing Director, Vardhman Textiles Ltd.
Speaking at the Session, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu stated that disruptions lead to innovations and transformations which should be focus area for textiles and apparel sector. Mr. Naidu also advised the industry to focus on backward and forward integration, value addition and diversifying products. He stated that according to the projections, Indian textile and apparel industry has the potential to grow at a CAGR of 14% and reach US$ 300 billion by 2025 from US$ 150 billion achieved in the year 2017. The exports are expected to receive boost in the wake of trade agreements with ASEAN and the proposed agreement with China, he added. He also said that industry should consolidate MSME sector by establishing Hub and Spoke model of cluster development facilities, give major thrust to skill development, upgrade technology and adopt Industry 4.0. The industry also needs to adopt lean manufacturing systems to remain globally competitive.
Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani highlighted initiatives like Silk Samagra, Samarth introduced by the Government to support Indian textile value chain. She expressed gratitude to the industry captains for supporting the Government by adopting GST reforms and urged them to tap the huge potential in technical textiles which has been identified as a sunrise sector. Hon’ble Minister also mentioned that the national sample survey organisation will collate the data of Indian textile retail market by collaborating with the office of the Textile Commissioner. To establish the size of Indian market, the government is also going to conduct a size India survey. The Hon’ble Minister of Textiles was very appreciative of the efforts made by CITI.
