In his inaugural speech, at the 56th Annual General Meeting of the Textile Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (India) at Hotel Trident in Mumbai, R Rajendran, Chairman of TMMA, said that the Indian economy in 2015-16 was the shining example of one of the fastest growing economies and oasis of the world in the wake of global slowdown fueled by fall in oil and commodity prices. The GDP grew at 7.6 per cent in 2015-16, continued till date, the highest in last five years as against 7.2 per cent clocked in 2014-15. There was macroeconomic stability and prudent fiscal management. The fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent has been met and a fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent has been set.

The Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani has asked the Textile Commissioner to get a detailed feedback on issues faced by powerloom sector, including yarn price fluctuation, anti-dumping duty on PTA and yarn and dumping of undervalued Chinese fabric and submit a report.

With the advent of inkjet printers and wide applications of inkjet printing in various areas, printing on fabrics also developed. It is a change from conventional method of screen printing – flat bed and roto. Digital printing offers distinct benefits of being able to print attractive design, complex designs, printing in short runs (smaller batch size), easy sampling, and capability of printing anything that you see on a computer screen. It has infused new energy into printing ideas and garment fashion. In a way, it is revolutionary!

Dr G Ramakrishnan, Senior Associate Professor, Department of Fashion Technology has been awarded Dr Radhakrishnan Award for the year 2015-2016 on the eve of ‘Teachers Day’ celebrations held at Kumaraguru College of Technology on September 3, 2016. Dr G Ramakrishnan has more than 30 years of experience that includes 12 years in industry and 18 years in academics. He was the recipient of Gold Medal for securing First Rank in Anna University PG Degree Examinations in 2004. In 2010, he completed his Doctoral degree (Ph D in Textile Technology) from Anna University, Chennai.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has proposed to drastically slash power tariff to spinning mills in the State to uplift the textile industry. The spinning mills provide employment to four lakh people in the State, but several mills are on the verge of closure due to heavy losses.

A cabinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has formally moved a proposal to offer power at Rs 2 per unit to the spinning mills.

About two and a half million people in Germany regularly work for eight hours or more in the sun. Their risk of developing skin cancer is twice as high as that of those employees who do not work outdoors. Only a very few of them wear special UV-protective clothing, as recommended by the trade unions and the German Social Accident Insurance Association (DGUV). However, the pressure on employers to require such clothing to be worn and/or make it available, may now increase considerably.

Retail Employees Day celebration on December 12 and TRRAIN Retail Awards for customer service excellence. In the last five years, it has created livelihood for more than 2,000 disabled youth and skilled more than 10,000 youth in retail. BS Nagesh, Founder, TRRAIN, has been involved in Shoppers Stop and its group companies since its inceptions in 1991 as the first employee. He is currently the Vice Chairman and Non-Executive Director of Shoppers Stop Limited.

Yoga guru Ramdev-owned Patanjali Group is planning to venture into garments area and a ‘swadeshi’ jeans will be launched by end of the year or early next year. Baba Ramdev said the idea behind his expanding business ventures is to end the dominance of multinational corporations that have for decades been capitalising on the country’s market. There’s a great demand from the country’s youths for jeans, the reason why Patanjali has decided to launch “Indianised” jeans to compete with foreign brands, he said.

In light of recent reports of mislabeling products relating to Egyptian cotton, Applied DNA Sciences, Inc, a provider of DNA-based supply chain, anti-counterfeiting, authentication, genotyping and anti-theft technologies, today provides market data that shows their DNA-based system can be used to monitor, control or eliminate the off-shore substitution of high-value cotton fibres by fibres of unknown origin.