Textiles Ministry taking steps to lessen Demonetisation woes: Irani

Ahmad Shariq Khan

Post demonetisation, the Textiles Ministry has helped open 5 lakh bank accounts for associated workers in the industry in a period of three weeks, said Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani.

“We will do our utmost within our constitutional framework to strengthen the textile industry. In the wake of demonetisation, Textiles Ministry has helped open 5 lakh bank accounts for associated workers in the industry in a period of three weeks,” she said while speaking at the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Export Awards, 2015-2016 in New Delhi on Monday.

Mentioning the efforts to ease the demonetisation woes, Irani said that her Ministry is also working towards ensuring that the workers in the textiles sector are trained to digitally use their bank accounts.

While presenting the awards comprising twenty-two categories, the Textiles Minister encouraged AEPC and garment exporters to be a partner in the Government's efforts towards job creation through value-driven manufacturing and exports.  

“To further promote exports, there should be an award for the best player in emerging market in the next award season. Industry should also head towards sustainable garments from an international perspective and should look for innovation either in marketing or technology,” she suggested.

Speaking on the occasion Ashok G Rajani, Chairman AEPC, said that the awards have been instituted with the aim to encourage Indian Apparel exporters to increase their export capacities and enhance competitiveness amongst firms to capture the global markets.

“We have an ambitious target for export and job creation in the next three years - I call upon the winners to be mentors to the start-ups and SMEs in this sector and together strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” he added.

The awards that have been instituted with the aim to encourage Indian Apparel exporters to increase their export capacities and enhance competitiveness amongst firms to capture the global market were divided into multiple categories; and the key awards were:

Global exports above Rs.500 crore

• Shahi Exports Pvt. Ltd. - Harish Ahuja, Managing Director (Faridabad, Haryana)
• Orient Craft Ltd., - Sudhir Dhingra, CMD (Gurgaon, Haryana)
• Gokaldas Exports Ltd, - P. Ramababu, Vice Chairman and MD (Bangalore)

Global exports above Rs.100 crore and up to Rs.500 crore

• Pearl Global Industries Ltd. - Pulkit Seth, Vice Chairman and MD (Gurgaon, Haryana)
• Pratibha, - Shreyaskar Chaudhary, MD (Madhya Pradesh)
• Raymond Group of Companies (Garmenting business) - Vishal Pratap Singh Bist, Director (Bangalore)

Global exports above Rs.50 crore and upto Rs.100 crore

• Penguin Apparels (P) Ltd - Anita Elango, Human Development Manager (Madurai, Tamil Nadu)
• Jyoti Apparels - Varinder Kumar, Managing Partner (New Delhi)
• Loyal Textile Mills Ltd. - Manikam Ramaswami, Chairman and MD (Tamil Nadu)

New entrepreneur

• Milion Exports Private Ltd. - Narinder Chug (New Delhi)

Highest exports to Japan

• Lodha Impex - Dalpat Lodha, Proprietor (Jaipur)