The event was inaugurated by Sanjiv Lathia, chairman and Seema Srivastava, executive director, of India ITME Society that hosts the event once in every 4 years. The 10th edition of the exhibition that displays world’s state-of-the-art machines and technologies, will witness launch of 24 products, besides discussions, knowledge sharing, profiling of artisans, photography exhibition and more, said the organisers.

The ‘Make in India’ initiative in textile engineering is being promoted to the visiting foreign business participants. Government schemes and incentives for the textile industry in India are also being propagated at the event. States of Gujarat and Karnataka are participating as state partners at the exhibition that is supported by the department of heavy industry, Government of India, textiles ministry and Maharashtra government.

‘Weavers of Maharashtra’ have their traditional fabric craft like himroo, paithani, block printing and tie dyeing on display at the event. Students of MIT Pune and National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) are also displaying their creative designs at the fair.

Senior officials from universities in Bangladesh, Philippians, Myanmar, Ethiopia and more are visiting India ITME-2016 to interact with Indian educational and technology institutions for graduate students/faculty exchange program.

Institutes like The Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences, Bhiwani (TIT), DKTE Society's Textile & Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (ICT), The Textile Institute of UK, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and design from MIT Institute are also participating in it along with foreign and domestic business leaders, academicians, research scholars and government officials among others.

The textile sector is one of the largest contributors to India’s exports with approximately 11 per cent share of total exports. India’s overall textile exports during fiscal 2015-2016 stood at $40 billion and the industry is expected to reach $223 billion by 2021.

India ITME Society is four-decade old non-profit organisation with a vision to support the industry through exhibitions facilitating investments and joint ventures and technology transfer. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India