Dr. A Sakthivel, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) gave the inaugural address during the session. Dr. Sakthivel said that “you may be aware that on my recommendations to Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, he has announced several fresh proposals and extended many export promotion schemes for readymade garment sector viz two per cent inter-subvention, two per cent Focus Market Linked scheme to USA and European Union and enlargement of countries under FMS/FPS, to name a few.

“The Government of India now expects our industry to perform much better. AEPC has accepted the challenge given to it”.

Dr. Sakthivel, Chairman AEPC while deliberating further commented that: “A higher growth in current market scenario is not an easy task. Especially in the face of the fact that Eurozone, which accounts for 49% of our exports, has shown a decline in apparel exports of 33% in the months of April/May 2012, over the same period in 2011.

“The overall export of apparel from India during this period has witnessed a decline of 12%.”

The meeting discussed the benefits provided by the Government in the FTP announced on June 5, 2012. Discussion on export performance in the period April-June 2012, export target v/s export performance, export performance in EU and US, feedback by exporters on buyers’ perspective in the future apparel market, feedback of exporters on likely order book position, discussion on enhancing exports in non-traditional markets and discussion on reducing transaction cost were held.

The second part of brainstorming-cum-interactive session was on the suggested actionable points for boosting export of readymade garments from India:

a) At the level of exporters’

b) At the level of Council

c) At the level of Government

Besides Executive Committee members of AEPC, around 50 other small, medium and large exporters from across India were invited for their inputs, whose participation and contribution during the interactive brainstorming session was very vital.

Ministry of Textiles