Apparel Export Promotion Council in collaboration with SOWTEX organised Fashion Meet Expo 2022 on 21-22nd April 2022. The two day fair was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Textiles and Railways, Darshana Jardosh at Apparel House Gurugram, in presence of dignitaries and participants.
Addressing the inaugural function Jardosh said,” I would like to extend my appreciation to AEPC to take this initiative of the Hon’ble Prime Minister forward and be one of the first councils to create a virtual B2B platform towards connecting Indian MSME exporters to foreign buyers during pandemic. I am happy to see accumulative RMG exports for the period Apr-Mar 2021-22 is $16018.3 mn showing a positive growth of 30.4 percent compared to the same period last year.” apparel sector with its share of approx. 4.4 percent of the total exports, has been able to make a decent contribution, she added. Main markets for Indian textiles and apparel export are USA, European Union, Parts of Asia and Middle East. Amongst these markets, for knitted garments; USA holds the maximum share with 26.3 percent followed by UAE 14.5 percent and UK 9.6 percent.
Welcoming the gathering Narendra Goenka, Chairman-AEPC said, ”Having blessed with largest raw material – availability of cotton, jute, silk and wool in the world supported by world’s second largest spinning and weaving capacity, providing the industry an opportunity for a 95 percent domestic value addition.” Further Chairman said, “We can assure that the brand India products are sustainable and meet all social and environmental compliances as per the import requirements of the respective countries. Council is taking rigorous efforts towards promoting brand India various global platforms showcasing its strength on sustainability, circularity, ethical sourcing and manufacturing, labour standards, women employment, etc.”
The Fashion Meet Expo 2022, seeks to bring together the entire textile eco system from fibre to fashion including manufacturers, trims and accessories players, dyes and chemical units, machine manufacturers, tech startups, designers, buying agents, exporters, MSME units, brands, Fashion institutes, etc. from across the country all under one roof.
Minister also informed that, the Cabinet under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India had approved PLI Scheme MMF segment and Technical Textiles for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and exports competitiveness under “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative with a focus on promotion of identified MMF apparel and Technical Textiles lines to create 60-70 global champions with the financial outlay of Rs. 10683 cr over a period of five years. I feel proud to share that India has become the world 2nd largest Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturer.
While this will strengthen the product capacity and process efficiency of the apparel industry in India, the export opportunities have also been enhanced via signing of various FTA with important trade partners for India including UAE, Australia and few others with UK and Canada in pipeline and the ongoing talks on further enhancing efficacy of Japan and Korea CEPA, she added.
Size of the current Global market of Manmade Fibre (MMF) garments & made ups is to the tune of $ 200 bn with a share of $1.6 bn of India accounting merely 0.8 percent of total global market of Manmade Fibre (MMF). These trade agreements will be instrumental to enhance the bilateral trade between India and partner countries and will help the Indian apparel industry to diversify into MMF based garments, the Minister noted.
Huge Boylan, Counsellor Economic, Australian High Commission said, “Australia is one of the leading apparel importers in the southern hemisphere, so it has become a prominent export market for the Indian garment industry. Its textile and & Apparel imports have registered a growth of 2 percent over the last five years and have reached $6.3 bn in 2020. India is amongst the top three suppliers of T&A products to Australia with its share in total Australia’s textile and apparel imports of around 5.5 percent. With the recently signed Economic Co-operation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) between India and Australia, the Indian garment industry is all poised to grow further.”
Stephanie Theriault from the Embassy of Canada said, Canada is one of the leading apparel importers which become a prominent export market for the Indian garment Industry. India is Canada’s 11th largest export market and 12th largest trading partner. The Minister also awarded the Indian Student for Global Design Development Sponsored by Tukatek during the event.
