About 1,100 exhibitors, 38 countries, 17 chapters, 11 exhibiting halls, 41 product launches over six days period of exhibition made India ITME-2016 the largest and apex exhibition for textile machinery and technology in India. A total of 1,17,000 footfall from 74 countries visited India ITME-2016. The total number of exhibitors in this exhibition were 1,100 out of which 60 per cent were Indian companies and 40 per cent foreign participants. The new countries which participated first time in Indian exhibition are Israel, Malaysia, Norway and Portugal. The largest participation in terms of total number of companies and the total number of area booked are China, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland and Japan.
New product launches such as Spinit 3.0 E with optional fancy module device, Chenille yarn machine, tread winding machine, Super Auto Levellor Drawframe drew visitors from all textile hubs.
Gujarat and Karnatakaâ€â€two key states in India having strong presence of textile industryâ€â€participated in this event as State partners. Both of the State Governments aggressively promoted textile parks and investment opportunity and textile policy to domestic and international delegates.
This once-in-a-four-year mega event was supported by the Department of Heavy Industry, Textile Ministry, and the Government of Maharashtra as State Partner making it the most important platform for the government officials and the industry members to interact and work together. Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA), Geneva, Switzerland, international trade centre, a division of United Nations, which works towards promoting presence of Indian investors and trade in East Africa, participated and networked with Indian companies to create new opportunities for Indo-African business. Financial Institutions like HDFC, IDFC ensured their presence to offer financial solution to investors in textile and textile engineering segment.
ITME-2016 received goodwill messages from President of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicating importance of this international event for our country at the government levels as well. Academicians, research scholars, Government officials from Philippians, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, Poland, Malaysia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt visited ITME-2016. Karnataka was represented by a strong official delegation headed by Textile Minister of Karnataka, Rudrappa M Lamani.
India ITME Society facilitated prestigious educational institutions to come together under one roof for conducting seminars, workshops, panel discussions and alumni meets creating a platform for faculty students interaction with the industry. The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) conducted a panel discussion on textile technology.
DKTE Institute, Ichalkaranji, SASMIRA, Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences (TIT), World Textile Information Network (WTIN), UK conducted their alumni meet combined with seminar for their students. The Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, China Cotton Textile Information Centre, China and Textile Institute, UK held conference well attended by Indian and foreign industry members. India ITME-2016 created a platform for the students and the craftsman of our country to showcase their talent and creativity to the world. Amidst whirring of the modern machinery, Weavers of Maharashtra showed live demonstration of creating beautiful weaves of Himroo, Paithani, block printing and tie dyeing. Photo-art gallery displaying wild life and ethic India by renowned photographers Dilip Bhatia and Hari Santharam added to the visual delights of the visitors.
Various theme and thematic installations by MIT Pune created delightful selfie points and memorable moments for the domestic and international visitors.
The industry being the second largest employer after agriculture it is utmost necessary that Indian textile machine manufacturing industry has to strengthen its base for quality output accepted at international level. India is now developing in multi-folds in most of the sectors specially in the spinning machinery manufacturing segments. This mega exhibition in India has now become a trend setter and gateway to new opportunities globally.