Piyush Goyal envisions India as future world textile leader at ATEXCON

ATEXCON brings together the leading players of the Asian textile industry, global input suppliers, and service providers to deliberate on key areas of business, including regional as well as global issues concerning this sector, organiser The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) said in a press release.

Goyal, Union minister of textiles, commerce and industry, consumer affairs, and food and public distribution, praised CITI chairman, T Rajkumar and Sima chairman Ravi Sam for putting in a lot of effort in organising the 11th edition of ATEXCON and bringing together the entire textile value chain on a single stage. He was happy to see leaders of various export councils, trade promotions, and regional associations coming together at one table to discuss the issues and roadmap of the Indian textile industry.

The minister also lauded the textile industry for doing commendable work till now and asked them to multiply their efforts and put in more hard work as a lot is yet to be achieved.

“I am sure the entire textile value chain will weave tradition and innovation, weave together culture and commerce, and will work together to contribute to the all-inclusive growth of the Indian economy as the world is seeing the true potential of India. We are privileged to serve our motherland. Let us all collectively resolve to work in a spirit of togetherness and duty as brothers and sisters and as one family to bring glory to India as a developed nation, so that the world acknowledges that the 21st century is an Indian century,” Goyal said.

“India is at the rare bright spot of the world’s economy and despite facing the challenges posed by the Russian-Ukraine war, global inflation, and COVID-19, India today is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. It is a matter of pride that despite its different challenges, India is able to keep a low inflation rate in the last decade—becoming the fastest growing economy and the 5th largest economy in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) size. This was the first time in 75 years that we had relatively low inflation for the last nine years,” he added.

Goyal thanked all captains of the industry and expressed his appreciation for achieving increased exports of about 776 billion, during 2022-23 which has increased by about 55 per cent in a span of just two years. He expressed confidence that the Indian economy could become worth $35 trillion by 2047 when India celebrates 100 years of independence.

He also pointed out that India has the highest working-age population in the world. About 65 per cent of the country’s population belongs to the working age group, whereas the same is about 33 per cent for the rest of the world. This will give an added advantage to India in the years to come.

“Under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strong foundation for the economy has been laid. Our government has brought political and economic stability in the last nine years. Today India has the world’s fourth largest forex reserves and we are very sure the growth rate of India will grow faster than this current rate in the years to come and we should be far more ambitious in achieving our goals,” said Goyal.

The minister said that the free trade agreements (FTAs) will bring glory to India’s textile sector and soon the world market will be flooded with Indian goods. He raised hopes of concluding an FTA with the UK which will provide a big boost to the Indian textile industry.

Goyal also appreciated the efforts of Indian machine manufacturers like LMW for developing indigenous technology and textile machines for the Indian textile industry and reducing dependency on imports. He opined that India must scale up indigenous textile technologies and modern machines through R&D and innovation.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)