Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
Indian Prime Minister sets the goal for Indian textiles sector to reach US$650 billion by 2025. Mr. Narendra Modi, Honorable Prime Minister of India, while inaugurating India’s largest ever textile meet, Textiles India-2017 on June 30th in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India heralded the strength and capacity of the Indian textile industry. Speaking extemporaneously in Hindi and English thrilled a large audience in Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar with statistics about India’s textile industry and outlining the opportunities for the sector.
Using a slogan, “farm to foreign,” the Honorable Prime Minister, emphasized the need for increasing the exports to reach the target of US$650 Billion by 2025.
Speed, scale and quality are necessitates for Indian textiles to compete against countries like China, said the Prime Minister. Innovation and research are needed to meet the demands of consumers in other countries as culture, life style and fashion trends are different. He also emphasized some specific areas such as organic dyes, which need attention.
This scribe was in the audience while the Prime Minister was delivering the inaugural address at the mega textile event that had over 1000 exhibitors and 15,000 registered buyers/delegates from many different countries.
Ministry of Textiles, Government of India organized the 3-day event, which attracted a large technical audience and general public.