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.

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.

Orange O Tec Pvt Ltd, will be marketing cutting machines, pin tables, software, hanger systems, computerised tables and air tables produced by Serkon Makina, a leading Turkish manufacturer of textile and apparel cutting manufacturing technologies and equipment in the western and northern Indian markets.

Mathis AG presented updated versions of its popular SmartLiquor dyebath monitor and the SmartScan digital system for colour fastness assessments at ITME, which was held at Mumbai recently.

Raymond, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Retail — are contemplating a foray into khadi in the near future. Aditya Birla Fashion Retail (ABFR) is learnt to have given an order for 4,500 metres of khadi to the Gondal-based Udyog Bharti weaver group.

The Indian Texpreneurs Federation has signed an agreement with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to train 50,000 workers between January and December next year in 15 job roles in textile mills.

The China Filtration Society (CFS), China Nonwovens Technology Association (CNTA) and UBM China, together with EDANA, the leading global association serving the nonwovens and related industries, announced that FILTREX® Asia 2018 will take place alongside the 10th China Filtration & Separation Exhibition/7th Filtration & Separation Asia (FSA) in Shanghai in November 2018 and will be co-organised by the four partners.