Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), representing the entire textile value chain through its leading regional & industry associations and 18 major corporate members, has elected its Office-bearers at its First Meeting of the Committee held on Monday, September 16, 2019 at Oyster, Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai.
T.Rajkumar, Chairman, Sri Mahasakthi Mills Limited, Kerala, Sri Arumuga Enterprise Limited and Foundation One Infrastructures Pvt Ltd, Tamil Nadu, has been elected as Chairman of CITI. Mr. Rajkumar is also the Chairman of the Textile Sector Skill Council (TSC), Past Chairman of The Southern India Mills’ Association, Chairman & Managing Trustee of Global Pathway School, Coimbatore and Secretary of Nachimuthu Gounder Rukmani Ammal Charitable Trust, Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, apart from actively involved in various industrial bodies and educational institutions.
D.L. Sharma, Director, Vardhman Textiles Ltd. and Managing Director of Vardhman Yarns and Threads Limited has been elected as Deputy Chairman of CITI. Mr. Sharma is Chairman of the CII Regional Committee on HR & IR (Northern Region) and Deputy Chairman of Textile Sector Skill Council (TSC). He has also served as Chairman, Punjab State Council of CII, Member of CII National Committee on Textiles, Member of CII’s National Committee on Industrial Relations and as Past President of Ludhiana Management Association.
S.K. Khandelia, President & CEO of Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. has been elected as Vice Chairman of CITI. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant of 1973 batch and has to his credit a brilliant academic career. After his initial stint with S.R. Batliboi & Co., he joined Texmaco Ltd., and then the erstwhile Sutlej Cotton Mills Ltd., in 1976 as Commercial Manager and had the privilege of working directly under the illustrious Dr. K.K. Birla for many years. Khandelia successfully leads a team of over 15,000 people stationed at various manufacturing locations and offices of the company. Endowed with sharp, creative and sound judgment and decision making, he displays in abundance the qualities of an administrator par-excellence. Through a steady application of forward thinking and a resilient strategy, he has been able to optimize the company’s performance in terms of volume and profitability which rose sharply after his take-over. Mr. Khandelia is actively involved in many Industry Associations and is the Co-Chairman of FICCI Textile Committee. He is also a member of Committee of Administration of SRTEPC, served as President of Indian Spinners’ Association (ISA) and member of Committee of Administration of CITI & TEXPROCIL. He has been instrumental in initiating and implementing various philanthropic and welfare activities in his personal capacity as well as under the Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mr.Rajkumar in his welcome address thanked the CITI Committee and the Past Chairmen for having their faith on him and his colleagues D.L. Sharma and S.K. Khandelia. He further stated that he and his team will focus on resolving the critical issues of the textile and clothing sector which is reeling under the tremendous pressure due to high raw material costs, declining exports, rising imports, embedded taxes not getting refunded at any stage, GST refunds, cash crunch issue, production holidays, etc.
CITI Chairman congratulated M/s. Maharaja Shree Umaid Mills, Rajasthan for winning CITI Birla Economic & Textile Research Foundation Award for “Effective Cost Management in the Textile Industry”, for 2018-19. It also organised a Seminar on “Strategic Discussion on Current Scenario of Textiles and Clothing Industry – A Way Forward”.
Mr. Rajkumar, Chairman, CITI delivered the Welcome Address. Sanjay K Jain, Immediate Past Chairman, CITI moderated the Session. The Panelists comprised of D.L. Sharma, Deputy Chairman, CITI, Prem Malik, Past Chairman, CITI, Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI, Rakesh Mehra, President, Indian Spinners Association and S.K. Khandelia, Vice Chairman, CITI. The Panelists discussed about the current issues affecting the T&C Industry and opportunities and way outs that could bail out the industry from the present crisis. The AGM and Seminar were a huge success in terms of the range of the issues deliberated upon, number of participants, etc. CITI’s Board Members’ cumulative turnover is over USD 30 Billion i.e.Rs.2 lacs crores plus.