6th edition of 'Texcellence 11' begins in Ahmedabad

05 Aug '11

6 min read

The sixth edition of 'Texcellence 11' – the national conference on the textile and allied sectors opened yesterday in Ahmedabad to a packed auditorium of delegates and experts from the Indian textile and apparel sector and university students.

At the inaugural session, on the dais were Mr BB Swain, IAS - Industries Commissioner, Gujarat, Mr Anand Parekh, President (Textile division) – Reliance Industries Ltd, Mr Negi – Director – Pradeep Overseas Ltd, Mr DL Pandya, Conference Convener, Mr TL Patel and Mr Trivedi – President and Secretary, respectively of the Ahmedabad unit of the Textile Association of India (TAI).

The event began with Mr Pandya thanking all those sitting on the dais, the delegates, sponsors and university students, for attending the conference. He started off by saying that the theme this time is “Indian Textiles & Clothing Sector – Maximising Growth & Value Addition and that over the two-day period, more than 20 experts will share their opinion on maximising growth and value-addition in the Indian textile and clothing sector.

This was followed by an address from the Guest of Honour – Mr Swain. He said, “Gujarat has always been in the forefront of the industrial revolution in India and particularly in the textile industry. The state has grown at a rate of 11% in 2010-11 compared to 9% in its previous fiscal year. Gujarat has a unique place in the textile sector as it is present across the whole value chain.

“The growth and vibrancy of the Gujarat textile industry is visible from the record number of Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs) signed at the recent Vibrant Gujarat conference – 2011, which totally amounted to more than Rs 260 billion and employs around 21% of the state's industrial workforce”.

Next on the agenda was the official inauguration of the conference by lighting the traditional lamp, by the dignitaries sitting on the dais. This was followed by an address from Mr Anand Parekh, who spoke eloquently on the challenges faced by the Indian textile sector.

He informed, “Reliance has huge investments in Gujarat in the textile sector as such and has played a major role in the industrialization of the state. The previous 18 months were the most turbulent times witnessed by the Indian textile sector in previous years, mainly by the volatility in prices of the most basic raw material – raw cotton.

“Within a period of a few months, cotton prices rose from just Rs 22,000 per candy to Rs 63,000 per candy to slip back to Rs 30,000. This period also witnessed the government imposing 10% excise duty on branded garments, which added to the woes of the industry, which was plagued by uncertainty. Instead of being able to concentrate on innovation or new initiatives, the bulk of their time was spent on wondering which way prices of cotton would move.

“The variety of measures adopted by the government to control inflation like hiking of bank interest rates, controlling the liquidity in the market, has led to curtailing GDP growth. A brake has been placed on growth of sectors like real estate, automobiles, including consumer spending due to the hikes in interest rates.

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