GCCI and Maskati Cloth Mahajan jointly organized the national-level, mega-scale event "Farm to Fashion - Indian Textile Global Summit 2018" from 4th – 6th May, 2018 at GMDC Convention Centre, Ahmedabad
White paper on “Vision 2030 for Textile Industry” presented
Detailed report attached as Annexure A
GCCI and Maskati Cloth Mahajan successfully organized the "Farm to Fashion - Indian Textile Global Summit 2018" at Ahmedabad
GCCI and Maskati Cloth Mahajan jointly organized the national-level, mega-scale event "Farm to Fashion - Indian Textile Global Summit 2018" with the theme of "Scaling Heights. Indian Textiles". The Summit was held from May 04-06, 2018 at the GMDC Convention Centre, Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India).
The Summit was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister of Commerce and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Rupani and Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Cooperation, Government of India, Shri Parsottambhai Rupala. Hon’ble Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu stressed on the need to promote the textile industry to give a boost to the manufacturing sector. He suggested that all stakeholders of the Indian textile industry should come together and bring about positive change in designs, manufacturing processes etc. so that they can compete well in the global markets. He stressed on the role of associations and Chambers in this effort, and congratulated GCCI and Maskati Cloth Market for the initiative of organizing the Summit. Hon’ble Minister Shri Purshottam Rupala congratulated the organizers for also involving the farmers, who are the key link in the Textile value chain. He suggested that GCCI and Maskati Cloth Mahajan should generate awareness amongst the farmers about new technologies and help them in better marketing of their produce.
The Summit witnessed participation of over 10,000 delegates and business visitors from all across the world, from countries such as India, UK, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe, spanning from all the sectors of Textiles, viz. cotton, ginning, spinning, weaving, processing, garmenting and technical textiles. Also, around 500 progressive Farmers from cotton-growing regions of Gujarat such as Surendranagar District were present at the Summit and learnt about technologies and ways to increase their productivity.
Technical Sessions on various key topics covering the complete Textile value chain were organized on 4th and 5th May, where leading experts from renowned companies shared their views and deliberated on the issues pertaining to cotton farmers, women, youth, and environment sustainability, as well as ways and means to increase productivity.
Since farmers are the first and most important link in the textile value chain, the very first technical session was for the farmers. It was on “Increasing Productivity for Cotton Farmers”. Eminent speakers from Cotton Guru Group of Companies, CCI, NABARD, AKRSPI and C& A Foundation explained the farmers about the various farming methods to increase productivity. They explained how to analyze and use key parameters such as water, soil type, seed type and fertilizer to increase the productivity. The new methods of farming such as Hydroponics were also explained to the farmers. All the speakers stressed on the need to bring the farmers together and set up a farmers’ co-operative so that new progressive technologies could be implemented for benefit of the farmers.
The second session was on Yarn Industry-Growth driven by Innovation and Value Addition. In this session, speakers from organizations such as The Textile Association, Texprocil, SRTEPC, Sintex Industries and Vardhman Textiles discussed about the challenges faced by yarn industry and the growth opportunities through innovation and value addition. The speakers shared their vision 2030 for the yarn segment with the delegates. Discussions were held on the new innovations including new type of fibers being introduced by other countries such as China, and how we could learn from their experience to grow our yarn market further.
There was also a session on the topic Environment Sustainability-Affordable Green future for Textiles. This session included speakers from organizationssuch as CII-ITC centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Arvind Ltd., Colourtex Industries Ltd., Grasim Industries Limited, UNIDO and Institute for Sustainable Communities. The need for green textile and the viability of making textile industry environment friendly was discussed by the experts.
Also, deliberations were held on how to make the textile industry discharge free while ensuring sustainable growth of the sector.
A roadshow by the Jabalpur Textile and Garment Park was also held. Details about the Investment opportunities in this Textile Park were shared with the delegates. This is the only Green Park in India for textile sector.
A session on Essentials of World Class Fabric and Processing Businesses in India was held, where some important issues came up through the deliberations.
The experts highlighted that the interest of young talent in textile processing and fabric manufacturing is decreasing and therefore talent acquisition is a major issue. They also highlighted that the level of R&D is very less as compared to other countries. The experts suggested that industry should give projects to institutions to compare Indian textiles with those manufactured by other countries.
The Summit also had a session focusing on the women entrepreneurs in which the role of women entrepreneurs in the textile industry was discussed. The experts in this session included leading women entrepreneurs in the textile and crafts sector and the Dean of premier institute NIFT. The experts discussed that there is huge opportunity and bright future for the women entrepreneurs, especially in the textile sector, and therefore there is a need for more women to come forward and start their own business venture.
There was also a very important session on bridging the gap between Industry and academia, which saw participation from faculty and student experts from organizations such as NIFT, IIM-A, IIT-Delhi as well as experts from companies such as EYC Labs, Raymond etc. which are employers who procure talent. The experts concluded after deliberations that is an immediate need for a system to promote industry-academia interface on regular basis. The need for constant curriculum revision in co-ordination with the industry was also deliberated upon. There was also a suggestion to industry about providing support and incentives
to students working on industry-specific projects and providing testing facilities to students at nominal rates.
There was also a session on Technical Textiles, where the experts informed the delegates about the high profitability, wide usage and huge demand-supply gap of technical textiles in India. At the end of the deliberations, it was evident that technical textile holds a very bright future and is sure to become one of the highest growth sectors, as almost every industry uses technical textiles in one way or the other.
There was an important session on Positioning India as a Global Apparel Sourcing Hub. The sourcing heads of leading brands such as Gini and Jony, Simba Fashions Ltd. deliberated on the ways and needs to make India a sourcing hub for Ready Made Garments.
An Experts’ Corner was also organized with Dr. J.N. Singh, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat and Mrs. Mamta Verma, IAS, Industries Commissioner, Govt. of Gujarat where views about the policy interventions needed to promote the textile sector in Gujarat were discussed.
The key findings and conclusions from the deliberations were presented in the form of a white paper charting the Vision 2030 for the Textile sector. GCCI made some important suggestions for development of the Textile Sector. The first suggestion was to increase productivity of cotton farmers by either setting-up a co-operative like Amul, or through encouraging contract farming. GCCI also suggested that the textile units should change with time and adopt new technologies, or they will be out of business like the composite textile mills. An important suggestion was also made for introducing a One Nation-One Policy for Textiles, i.e. a National Policy on similar lines as One Nation-One Tax in the form of GST. Recently Maharashtra and now Madhya Pradesh have also declared very lucrative policies for Textile to bring textile industries in their states. This will be detrimental for those units which have invested crores of rupees and they
will go sick. This will result into NPAs of Bank finance and loss of labor employment.
U.K. and Thailand were the Country Partners for the Summit and the Summit received support of Ministry of Textile, Government of India and Industries Commissionerate, Govt. of Gujarat. Government bodies such as Gujarat Handloom Corporation, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd., iNDEXTb, GNFC, GSFC, NABARD also actively participating in the event.
Also, leading educational institutions such as IIM/NID/NIFT participated actively in the event.
Under the aegis of the Summit, a grand trade exhibition was organized where more than 100 exhibitors ranging from fabric manufacturers, process houses, Apparel brands, machinery companies and Handloom Houses displayed their products. The exhibition with focus on fabrics provided a huge platform to MSME companies for global business opportunities as about 1,500 buyers from various countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Dubai and other Indian states participated in the Exhibition. Leading Brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, PVH, Arvind, Ashima, Reliance, Simba Fashions, Gini & Jony, Vardhman, Aditya Birla, Mafatlal, Raymonds and various other companies participated as prospective buyers in the Exhibition.
The Exhibition received overwhelming response as more than 10,000 visitors attended the Exhibition. We are pleased to mention that business worth Rs 1,000 crore was generated in these 3 days only.
Fashion Show was one of the most unique feature of the Summit where the fabric produced by MSME was showcased to the world. There were about 15 sequences by various process houses, fabric manufacturers and leading brands such as Reliance, Chiripal, and many more. Choreographed by leading fashion show director, Mr. Utsav Dholakia, it was one of the landmark events which highlighted grey fabric and apparels made by MSMEs.
Hon’ble Minister for Education, Government of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Hon’ble Minister for Revenue, Government of Gujarat, graced the Valedictory Session for the Summit on 5th May. Impressed by the comprehensive activities of the Summit, he said that the Government of Gujarat will initiate all efforts to establish Textile University in Gujarat so that the required manpower for the industry is available. He appreciated and applauded the great efforts of the organizers and mentioned that this Summit will prove to be a milestone for the growth of Textile Industry and will prove to be vital in establishing Ahmedabad as the “Manchester of East” once again.
Industrial visit to Arvind Mills Ltd. was organized as a part of this Summit, so that MSMEs could understand the best practices and modern technologies of the Industry. The industrial visit provided an opportunity to the participants to see the entire value chain of the textile industry in the composite textile unit.
Apart from the above, an amount of Rs. 51 lakhs was also collected for support to widows and families of army-men who lost their lives or were partially handicapped in battle.
This Summit therefore proved to be a unique and successful initiative which will contribute significantly towards boosting the presence of Gujarat and global marketplaces, by strengthening the complete value chain.
