Jaipur, India: India must necessarily align its business of textiles and apparel to the globally changing socio-economic requirements to forge a sustainable future by “managing the 3Ps — People, Planet, and Profits,” CITI Chairman T Rajkumar exhorted today at the inaugural session of the third edition of the CITI Global Textiles Conclave 2023 in Jaipur.
Pointing out how major economies across the globe are effectively working towards reducing emissions, consumption, and waste, he said: “Even consumers today are giving importance to Environmental Sustainability like never before.”
With the theme, ‘Strategies for balancing sustainability & profitability in textile value chain’, the three-day event will cover the entire textile value chain from ‘farm to fashion’. The event will not only offer participants the opportunity to interact with a select group of peers from the global textiles and clothing industry, but will also provide them a platform to brainstorm, share and gain key insights into the present and future of this resurging, dynamic sector.
The chief guest at the event, Rajasthan Export Promotion Council Chairman Rajiv Arora made a case for India’s largest state, pointing out that roughly 39% of the Delhi-Mumbai national highway passed through Rajasthan. He also announced that a big textile park would soon come up at the Kankani area in the state’s Jodhpur district.
Readying for the momentum: Rajkumar asserted during his speech: “Pushed by the many new regulations, fashion companies are making additional efforts to develop a more sustainable, socially responsible, and transparent textile & apparel supply chain, and all these regulations and efforts are likely to gain momentum in the coming years, especially in the EU, UK, and US.” This, he contended, will bring several changes in the global supply chain structure like never before, such as:
- Slowing down of fast fashion;
- Increased awareness about sustainable materials such as organic cotton, recycled polyester, and eco-friendly dyes;
- Designing more durable, repairable, and recyclable products to extend their lifespan and reduce waste;
- Increased usage of renewable energy, minimising waste, and reducing water and energy consumption;
- More focus on digitalisation to provide business data to buyers;
- Adoption of traceability solutions.
And India being one of the major suppliers of textile and apparel products to these economies needs to take note of all these changes, Rajkumar, who is a director in the 90-year-old diversified Sakthi Group of Companies, exhorted.
Stating that the Indian government had come up with several favourable policies for the domestic industry like PLI, PM-MITRA, RoDTEP, RoSCTL, etc, it was necessary that to reap the “maximum out of these policies, we must align our businesses towards the changing socio-economic requirements.”
India's material base: The Indian textiles and apparel sector, he pointed out, was one of the largest in the world with an unmatched raw material base. This sector not only contributes about 10% to Indian total merchandise exports but also generates employment opportunities for more than 100 million people directly and indirectly. And given the present circumstances, enterprises, whether big or small, “have to walk a tightrope by balancing the long-term imperative to protect the planet with the immediate need to preserve the bottom line.”
The sustainable future that the world is looking at “won’t be cheap,” he said, but the investment towards this will surely present a “big opportunity for business growth.”
Rajkumar also announced that in its commitment to motivate and encourage the country's textiles and apparel industry to chart out a sustainable path that keeps both the planet and its people at the heart of all activities, CITI has launched the first edition of the ‘CITI Sustainability Awards in this GTC 3.0 (texfash.com is the Knowledge partner). These awards are also aimed at triggering a cascading effect of innovation and pragmatic work. The “entries that we received for the Sustainability Awards were very encouraging and give a glimpse of the various initiatives that industry is talking to manage, monitor and report on optimising material usage, water and carbon emission."
