Apparel Online India Magazine March 1st Issue 2019 | Page 99

INDUSTRY LIVE
Pulwama Attack: Industry expresses solidarity
Following the fateful Pulwama
terror attack that claimed the
lives of 40 Indian soldiers, India’s
traders recently called for a Bharat
Bandh. Expressing solidarity with
the families of the CRPF (Central
Reserve Police Force) personnel
martyred in Jammu and Kashmir’s
Pulwama district on February 14,
traders organised a nationwide
shut down. Traders from states
like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, J&K,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and
West Bengal participated in the
bandh.
Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary
General, Confederation of
All Indian Traders (CAIT)
informed that in the wake of
China supporting Pakistan, the
CAIT has also decided to launch
a national campaign to boycott
Chinese goods.
India’s textile-related
import from Pakistan 2018-2019 (Apr-
Nov) Source: GOI
Products Value (INR CR)
Cotton 77.5
Other made-up textile
articles; sets; worn clothing
and worn textile articles;
rags 67.45
Wool, fine or coarse animal
hair, horse hair yarn and
woven fabric. 28.36
Man-made filaments/staple
fibres 5.16
Knitted or crocheted fabrics 1.40
Silk 0.52
Carpets and other textile
floor coverings 0.19
Also, the Government has
withdrawn the ‘Most Favoured
Nation’ (MFN) status granted to
Pakistan hiking the basic customs
duty on all goods imported from
the neighbouring country to 200
per cent, in the wake of the terror
attack. As the entire country is
boiling with anger over Pakistan for
carrying out yet another cowardly
act, the industry feels that the
neighbouring country will still not
hamper its textile trade with India
as it gets cheapest cotton from here.
“Cotton export is unaffected so far
and we don’t expect Pakistan to
pose hurdles as their cotton industry
requires raw material from India.
India is the most accessible and
price-lucrative market for them,”
said Atul Ganatra, President of
the Cotton Association of India to
an English daily.
Harish Dua, President of
Knitwear Apparel Exporter
Organisation, Ludhiana and
Narinder Chugh of AEPC said
that they were happy with the
Government’s decision and will
not worry if the decisions impact
With US $ 0.687 billion
and 3 per cent share
of India’s total textile
export, Pakistan is on
the 5th number among
the top 10 export
destinations for Indian
textiles ‘Made in
India’.
business in any way, as it is about
the country.
Going by the figures, total
India-Pakistan trade increased
marginally to US $ 2.41 billion in
2017-18 as against US $ 2.27 billion
in 2016-17. India imported goods
worth US $ 488.5 million in 2017-18
and exported goods worth US $ 1.92
billion, during the same period.
NITRA hosts 58th Joint Technological Conference
The Northern India Textile
Research Association (NITRA)
recently hosted the 58th edition of
Joint Technological Conference at
its campus in Ghaziabad. It also
separately organised a conference
on technical textiles Tech-Tex
2019. The JTC is an annual feature
of India’s four premier textiles
research associations (TRAs)
namely ATIRA, BTRA, SITRA
and NITRA. The JTC is a jointly
organised prestigious techno-
conference in which delegates
from the textile and clothing
industry take part. The major
technical developments in the field
of textile technology, based on
the R&D works carried out by the
four TRAs during the year, are
presented and deliberated in the
conference.
MoS for External Affairs
General VK Singh, marked
his presence at the event as
Chief Guest. Other eminent
industrialists who attended the
conference were SK Kapoor and
Raj Kumar Jain, respective
Chairman and Vice Chairman
of NITRA; Director General
of NITRA, Dr. Arindum Basu;
and respective Directors of
ATIRA, BTRA and SITRA,
MN Subramanian, Dr. Anjan K
Mukhopadhaya and Dr. Prakash
Vasudevan. Emeritus Prof.
VK Kothari and Prof. R.
Chattopadhyay, both from IIT
Delhi, along with MK Garg from
Alps Industries chaired the three
technical sessions. During the
day-long conference, 12 technical
papers were presented to about
200 industry professionals.
General VK Singh expressed
happiness over the activities
and achievements of the TRAs
and advised them to develop
marketable products so that
buyers from the world market
rely on Indian textile products
Gen. VK Singh, MoS for External Affairs, addressing the 58th JTC. Heads of TRAs (L-R): MN Subramanian
(ATIRA), Dr. Anjan K Mukhopadhaya (BTRA) and Dr. Arindam Basu (NITRA) are also seen
in preference to other countries.
He also urged TRAs to focus on
technical textiles through CoEs
that are established in TRAs.
He was particularly in support
of NITRA’s substantial R&D and
product developments in the area
of protective textiles. He also
suggested a few new areas, where
NITRA can work. At the end, he
felicitated nine NITRA employees,
who have completed 25 years of
dedicated service in NITRA. SK
Kapoor, in his welcome address,
mentioned that TRAs are the
flag-bearers of textile research
in India and are also acting as
implementing agencies for MoT.
He urged the industry to provide
more support to TRAs.
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