Apparel Online India Magazine December 1st Issue 2018 | Page 24

TEX-FILE
(L-R) R.C. Panwar, Mark Green, Han Bekke, Felix Fernando and Tanuja Sinha Roy in a thought-provoking discussion
During the session on ‘Disrupting
Current Paradigms and Reimagining
Textiles Supply Chains to Make
Them Future Ready’, Md. Siddiqur
Rahman, President, BGMEA and
Govind Venuprasad, Coordinator
– Supporting Indian Trade and
Investment for Africa (SITA),
International Trade Centre (ITC)
had an interesting discussion on why
an Indian company should invest in
Bangladesh or in Ethiopia or any
African country. “We are the closest
neighbours of India, and Bangladesh
has huge potential for yarn and
fabric companies to set up units, so
Indian companies should come to
Bangladesh,” said Siddiqur Rahman.
While Govind Venuprasad was of the
view, “If you are targeting the whole
world as a market, Africa is the best
place for you, but if you are limited
to Indian or Bangladeshi market, a
manufacturing unit in Bangladesh
may be a good option.” Lokesh
Parashar, President, Federation of
Buying Agents insisted that Indian
companies should follow buyers’ focus
or requirement and invest accordingly.
He also added that buyers are more
willing for more collective approach
while the majority of Indian exporters
are not so geared up. “My buyer
wanted to manage his distribution till
store through Indian exporters, but
exporters denied for the same,”
he added.
SK Gupta, President – Corporate,
Raymond Limited also shared his
experience of having factories in
Ethiopia and further shared that
now the company is targeting African
countries as its potential retail
market and will soon open 40 to
50 stores there.
SN Modani, MD, Sangam India
Limited also stated that he is
planning to invest in Ethiopia.
In another interesting session:
ESSENTIALS
• Sanjay Jain, Chairman
CITI and the man
behind this event,
thanked everyone for
making the conclave
such a success
and a beehive of
knowledge.
• Expert speakers
insisted that 3D,
IOT, AI, Blockchain,
Big data, machine-
to-machine
communication,
machine learning…
are the need of the
hour to keep ahead
• Textile Secretary
Raghvendra
Singh; and Punit
Lalbhai, ED, Arvind
Limited explained
opportunities in
technical textiles in
India
• Suresh Kotak, (‘Cotton
Man of India’) CMD
of Kotak Industries
was honoured with
Lifetime Achievement
Award.
• J. Krishna Kishore,
CEO, Ex-officio
Secretary, Economic
Development
Board, Govt. of
Andhra Pradesh
gave an interesting
presentation on how
Andhra Pradesh is
‘Weaving the Future
of Textiles’.
• MoU for mutual
cooperation was
also signed between
BGMEA and CITI.
‘Improving Profitability of India’s
Textile and Apparel Industry’, Sunil
Goenka, JMD, Texport Syndicate
insisted that labour laws and
dependency on import of fabric from
China are still major challenges
hampering the profitability of Indian
apparel exporters. The issue of
the fibre-neutral policy was also a
point of discussion among various
speakers like SK Khandelia,
President & CEO, Sutlej Textiles
& Industries Ltd., and DL Sharma,
Vice Chairman, CITI. Dinesh
Nolkha, MD, Nitin Spinners Ltd.
shared that as their company is
growing at the rate of 20 per cent
CAGR since more than a decade, it is
focusing on its core strength which
is spinning and cotton. BM Sharma,
JMD, RSWM Ltd. highlighted that
as far as the preferential markets are
concerned, they are just supplying
30 per cent to the core market, so it
should not be a reason of big worry.
He also discussed about the policy
changes which have happened
frequently in the recent years.
Talking about things on a global
perspective, the session ‘Sustaining
Growth for T&A Manufacturers in a
World of Slowing Economic Growth’
drew the attraction of audience as
Tanuja Sinha Roy, South Asia
Head, JCPenney; Mark Green,
Executive VP, PVH Far East, HK;
and Felix Fernando, Chairman,
Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters
Association shared their views.
Scaling up factories, versatility, focus
on sustainability and capabilities to
work on shorter lead time were some
of the core points especially with
regard to Indian apparel factories.
Speakers were also of the opinion
that fast fashion is sustainable. In
an honest admission, Gautam Nair,
MD, Matrix Clothing, Gurgaon
shared that exporters are equally
responsible for their degrowth and,
24 Apparel Online India | DECEMBER 1-15, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
not just the Government only. “SMEs
have to play their role in order to
expand in non-traditional hubs such
as Jharkhand, Odisha etc. to become
competitive. It is not the ‘jaagir’ of
large-scale exporters only,”
he insisted.
With the experience of being
associated with the Indian
retailers who are thriving while
competing against the international
bigwigs in the booming domestic
market, Venu Nair, CMO, Tata
Trend Ltd; Siddharath Bindra,
MD, Biba Apparels; and Nitin
Mohan, Founder and Director of
Blackberrys Menswear gave an
insight into how the retail market
is now in for good times ahead.
Venu Nair stated that the rise of the
Indian retailers against international
brands comes from their experience
with the domestic market which
makes them understand the needs
of the customers in a much better
way – bifurcating the diverse
Indian customer base and catering
to their varied needs accordingly
as per different requirements. He
also mentioned that omnichannel
presence of different brands will
ensure better sales as e-commerce
and bricks and mortar go hand in
hand. Siddharath Bindra mentioned
the evident conversion of the
unorganised sector to organised
market as people’s income is rising
along with their aspiration, making
the Tier-2 market open to brands.
Sanjay Sinha, India/SA Leader-
IBM Watson Data & AI Platforms
stated that the industry is looking
beyond the overseas fashion industry
and creating its own designs. In an
interesting development regarding
AI, IBM Watson is identifying the
trend of fashion from social mentions,
Instagram images as well as from the
cluster where the style is trending.