Apparel April 2019 Apparel April 2019 issue | Page 45

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
THE EVENT
The MoUs were signed at Artisan Speak, which
had been held to showcase the Geographical
Indicator (GI) Textiles of India, through a
confluence of fashion, music and dance. The
Union Minister for Textiles, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani;
Secretary, Textiles, Shri Raghvendra Singh; and
other officials from the Ministry were present on
the occasion. Former Indian cricketer Shri Sachin
Tendulkar was present on behalf of Arvind True
Blue Limited.
The following textile companies signed
agreements with the Office of Development
Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles
on the occasion:
• Arvind True Blue Limited (Shri Kulin Lalbhai,
Executive Director)
• Raymond Ltd. (Shri Gaurav Mahajan,
President – Group Apparels)
• Welspun India Limited (Shri Anil Channa,
Executive Director (Operations)
• Titan Co. Ltd. (Shri Ajoy Chawla, Senior
Vice President)
• Reliance Retail Limited (Shri Akhilesh Prasad,
President & Chief Executive)
Elephanta Caves. It was aimed at establishing
long-term market linkages between key industry
players on the one hand and handloom weavers
on the other; this will ensure sustainable
development of the sector, resulting also in
sustainable and enhanced income opportunities
for weavers.
THE M O U S WERE SIGNED AT
ARTISAN SPEAK, WHICH HAD
BEEN HELD TO SHOWCASE THE
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATOR (GI)
TEXTILES OF INDIA, THROUGH
A CONFLUENCE OF FASHION,
MUSIC AND DANCE.
Addressing the gathering, the Textiles Minister
Smt Smriti Zubin Irani said, “Grateful to the
industry captains for stepping up to this initiative
under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles. The
Textiles Secretary has been speaking about the
need to explore synergy between our culture and
our textiles. We are now standing at a site where
2,000 years ago, people built something without
the aid of technology, something which depicts
pure passion and love for craft. The statues in
Elephanta Caves depict creases of the cloth that
someone then presumed a deity would wear.
That is the culture and history that we celebrate
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