MMF boost vital for ?Make in India? success: FICCI TAG meet

FICCI organised its 7th annual conference on textile and apparel industry ?TAG 2015? on the theme ?Beyond cotton: Developing Excellence in MMF based textiles? on October 28, 2015 at Taj President Hotel, Mumbai.

Vijaykumar Deshmukh, Minister of State for Textile, PWD (Public Undertaking), Transport, Labour, Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, Government of Maharashtra inaugurated FICCI TAG 2015. In his inaugural speech, he said that for the development of textile industry in the state, Maharashtra government is working on new textile policy and developing and promoting promoting various textiles park to strengthen textile clusters. He also mentioned that investment in MMF based textile is a huge opportunity.

The guest of honour, Dr Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles stressed upon the need of R&D in the textile and apparel industry, which needs to be addressed collectively and in time bound manner.
Dr. Gupta also said that the Govt. of India is focusing on skill development and industry should come forward to work hand in hand with government on this area.
She also informed that Govt. of India will open textile commissioner?s office in each state in India, which will help industry to interact with the ministry on regular basis.

RD Udeshi, President (Polyester Chain), Reliance Industries Ltd in his special address said that the growth of manmade textiles is playing an important role in the textile industry. He said, since Govt of India is aiming to grow the size of Indian Textile & Apparel industry from $110 billion to $400 billion, the input for such size from man-made fibre will also multiply and hence required immediate attention on its development as cotton only may not be able to fulfill that demand.

Manoj Patodia, Member, FICCI, in his welcome speech outlined that the share of polyester fibre in Textile and Apparel industry has gradually increased in the recent years, rising from 34 per cent in 2000 to 38 per cent in 2014. This pattern is expected to remain in growth phase as an alternate to cotton. Patodia said that FICCI has already sent its representation to Government of India for promoting consumption of man-made fibres to reduce the huge gap between man-made fibres and cotton.

Prashant Agarwal, Jt MD, Wazir Advisors, in his theme presentation said that Investment in Manmade fibre based textile value chain will help in successfully implementing ?Make In India? initiative for textile sector. This will help reducing dependability on MMF based fabric imports worth $1.2 billion and make India a self-sufficient country in MMF based textiles. He also mentioned that out of total global trade of MMF-based apparel, which is currently pegged at $170 billion, India has a very low share of 2.2 per cent. This present a great opportunity to increase the share of Indian MMF and textile and apparel industry should work together to increase it further.