First World Textile Conference 2011 opens on Friday

Mumbai is gearing up to host the maiden World Textile Conference 2011 (WTC), a two day mega show from May 6 to 7. The Conference will provide an opportunity for the global textile fraternity to network and enhance their cumulative strength.

Being organized by The Textile Association India (TAI) and DFU Publications as the Conference Convenor the theme is: ‘Vision 2020: Emerging New Business Opportunities Worldwide and Challenging Strategies.’ The conference agenda covers all topics currently vital to the industry while encompassing managerial, commercial and business aspects instead of being purely technical. The main area of interaction will be the shifting focus in textile and apparel sourcing towards Asia and currently India, which is potentially emerging as a strong alternative in the Asian textile market.

The WTC assumes importance for India given that textile and apparel industry in the country, both domestic and exports is expected to grow from the current $70 billion to $220 billion by 2020, if the country keeps to its strategic plans. Also a total investment to the tune of $68 billion across the textile supply chain will be required by 2020 to tap the growing potential market including $14 billion in apparel and $19 billion in the processing sector estimates a Technopak study on the Indian industry. The two days Conference will thus delve on topics like: new business opportunities for India and Asia in apparel fabrics, home fashion fabrics, camouflage fabrics, medical textiles, coated fabrics, technical and defense textiles as well as Indian and international success stories and case studies in textiles and apparels among others.

In his paper “World Trade in Textiles and Clothing”, to be presented at the conference, Robin Anson forecasts future demand and world trends. An authority on textile and apparel industry strategy and trade issues, Anson is the founder and MD of UK-based Textiles Intelligence. He says, “Between 2010-15, demand is set to rise in the majority of countries covered by the forecasts. The fastest growth will be in China (up by an average of 21.7 per cent per annum), followed by India (up by 13.5 per cent per annum) and Saudi Arabia (up by 11.1 per cent per annum).” He goes on to say that demand in these three countries also rose in 2009 when demand in the majority of countries declined because of the global economic crisis.

Harminder Sahni, Founder and MD, Wazir Advisors will present a paper “Resurgence in Indian Textiles, a Time to Invest to Maximize Growth Potential”. To be presented in the first session of the two-day Conference the paper focuses on India emerging as a global textile destination. Global trends impacting demand and supply of textiles, with China as the largest player in world trade as well as a domestic market explosion are some of the other highlights. “The Indian textile market is poised to treble over the next 10 years and at this moment the supply chains from spinning to garment making are not geared to address this. With the inevitable demand for exports and lure of international business, I foresee a huge supply gap in the domestic market. Indian textile industry is certainly at a sweet spot with availability of local raw material, skilled labor and schemes like TUF to grow exponentially. I believe to be able to capture this opportunity we need investments not only from existing players but also from new Indian players and FDI from international players,” Sahni says.

Also on the first session of Day 1, Amit Ruperalia, Chairman of Texprocil will give a presentation on the shifting focus in global sourcing towards India and the country emerging as a strong alternative. “Confidence is back”– the Textile and Clothing entrepreneurs are nearly confident of growth this coming decade. But with much of Europe and North America still confronting the lingering effects of the downturn, many companies in search of sustainable economic growth are focusing their sights on specific markets far from home – where recoveries are strong and the outlook is stronger. Reconstructing the term ‘Globalisation’ in the post recession era to achieve fast paced growth in coming years and devising strategies to realize growth aspirations won’t be easy and requires undertaking different approaches and attitudes.

Rita Menon, Secretary Textiles, Ministry of Textiles, will be the Chief Guest, while A B Joshi, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles will be delivering the special keynote address and Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director, Reliance Industries give the keynote speech. Industry expert, Dilip Jiwrajka, MD, Alok Industries will give a speech related to the basic theme of the conference covering issues such as the evolution of the global textile industry and its key issues and challenges, the new global order for sourcing, the current world textile scenario and in 2020 and the growing opportunity and key challenges for India and rest of the world in this industry.

The WTC will have a tight program with views and panel discussions by industry experts spread over 10 sessions, culminating in a valedictory session which will include a summing up by M D Teli, Dean of ICT Mumbai and vote of thanks by K D Sanghvi, Chairman TAI.