According to the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), exports of India’s garment is poised to register a positive growth in 2017-18. AEPC has an ambitious target for export and job creation in the next three years. The garment export industry was poised to grow in 2017 with the initiatives announced by the government along with the good quality products aided by innovative design prowess that will drive the change for the industry.

Operating income for the US retail industry is expected to grow between four and five per cent in 2017. Sales are expected to grow in the three to four per cent range.

Vietnam’s exports of textiles and clothing are projected to increase by 7 per cent this year to $29 billion, far below the trade ministry’s previously-targeted $31 billion and the lowest growth in the last decade.

The apparel fabric and accessory industry’s most comprehensive trade fair for the spring/summer season returns this March, when over 3,000 exhibitors are expected in Shanghai from 15 – 17 March for the Spring Edition of Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics.

India has already begun to import cotton. In December, already about 3 lakh bales of cotton have been imported. This year as arrival of cotton has fallen post the note-ban and farmers are not selling cotton in a big way as they prefer to deal in cash, the prices of the commodity have firmed up to Rs 39,000 per candy of 355 kg in the domestic market.

Despite the noticeable gaps in attendance of visitors at the 6-day event of India-ITME held at the BEC in Mumbai, it was the quality of visitors that cheered up the 1,000-odd exhibitors. Most of the exhibitors The ITJ met were concerned with the occasional thin crowds in some of the halls, but were overwhelmed by the fact that they received serious and genuine enquiries.

Cash crunch is very much the talk of the town today! Though demonetisation is a bold decision taken by the Government, it has left a sudden jerk in the entire textile chain. Textile retailers faced the immediate impact and other intermediaries in the value chain are facing it now with a lag of a few weeks with reduced orders due to slower offtake.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which provides quick estimates of the performance of key industrial sectors, started resurrecting upward movement during FY2015-16. As per IIP, the industrial sector broadly comprises of mining, manufacturing and electricity. In FY2015-16, IIP growth of T&C was bracing and it outstripped the growth of overall manufacturing and general IIP.

Make in India initiative, launched a couple of years ago by the Modi Government, has also caught the serious attention of the textile industry, which seemed to have progressed well on this front. The ITJ takes a closer look with some highlights from the current scenario.