Dr Arindam Basu, eminent textile-scientist and Director, Central Silk Technological Research Institute, Central Silk Board, Bangalore has assumed Director General´s Office at Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), Ghaziabad on 6 March 2014. He is also in overall charge of NITRA´s academic wing NITRA Technical Campus (NTC). Dr Basu flashed the sparkle of genius in academics and secured first class in both B.Sc. (Text.) and M. Text. from prestigious Universities of Calcutta and Bombay, respectively.

The government of Bangladesh has slashed tax by 0.5 percent at source for readymade garment (RMG) export to make up for loss incurred during last years political turmoil. Tax on other exports has been reduced by 0.2 percent. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) announced the cuts on Wednesday, a day before the first anniversary of Bangladeshs worst industrial disaster that killed over 1,130 people, mostly RMG workers.

The much-awaited Knitwear Technology Mission Project Centre in Tirupur has seen the light of day very soon. The project, aimed at promoting product and fabric diversification and ushering in value addition across the apparel value chain was launched on May 6.

“There is huge potential for technical textiles in India. The players in this space will have to move up the value chain to realise the potential,” observed Sashi Singh, Executive Director, Indian Technical Textile Association and former Joint Textile Commissioner.

After visiting the powerloom cluster in Palladam and Avinashi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Textiles, Zohra Chatterjee observed that the sector is in dire need of modernisation.

India-based Shri Vallabh Pittie (SVP) Group is setting up a $550 million spinning mill in Kombolcha town, located in the Debub Wollo Zone of Ethiopias Amhara Region. The textile mill, to come up on 50 hectares of land at the industrial zone in Kombolcha, is likely to significantly contribute in achieving the objectives for the textile industry set in the Governments Growth and Transformation Plan.

A cotton mechanisation programme would be introduced in Punjab following the state governments approval for the programme aimed at cultivating high density cotton at a bigger scale. Under the ambitious programme, John Deere would sow the cotton crop with the pneumatic planters in about 1,500 acres of field in Muktsar districts Malout.