Bharat Tex Expo 2024: Showcasing Strength, Synergy & Splendour, Writes Mithileshwar Thakur

There is buzz, expectation and excitement in the air as India, a major global player and surely a force to reckon with in the world of Textiles, prepares itself for the biggest show of textile, trade, technology and tradition in the mega textile global event- Bharat Tex 2024.

This four-day event- from 26th to 29th February, 2024- is expected to attract global CEOs, policymakers, industry experts, international designers and reputed global brands and sourcing heads. It will have Reverse Buyer-Seller meets, B2B meetings, G2G meetings, knowledge sessions, masterclasses, panel discussions, country sessions, state sessions, global launches, industry networking sessions and cultural showcases. It will also have theme pavilions showcasing sustainability, technology interventions, digitalization, startups ecosystem et al. The event will focus on enhancing trade and investment with CEO round tables, MoU signing and B2B engagements.

Several global organizations & international trade bodies including IDH, WGSN, Better Cotton Initiative, BSI Responsible Sourcing Network, ITMF, International Apparel Federation, ITME, BGMEA, Cotton Egypt Association are partnering with Bharat Tex 2024 to facilitate discussion and deliberations on Global trends in Textiles and Apparel including sustainability, circularity, traceability, industry 4.0, innovation, green financing among others. Some 100 odd international speakers have agreed to participate in the knowledge sessions on topics on contemporary relevance & interest.

The event has received overwhelming participation from various renowned international companies including Fortum, Lenzing, H&M, Target, Anko, CIEL Group, Busana Group, Hyosung Corporation, Brandix Apparels, Teijin Ltd, Perennials and Sutherland LLC, MAS Holdings, Coats Group, Poeticgem Ltd, Italiya Inc Japan, Warp-N-Weft Designs, Janki Overseas, and Cotton Council International, among others

The event will feature 50+ knowledge sessions with confirmed participation from CXO level speakers, including representatives from Bestseller, GAP, KAS Group, H&M, Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, Kohls, Teijin, Toray, Coats, Nike, PVH, Perennials, YKK, Lenzing, Hugo Boss, Levis Strauss, Super Dry, Target and many others.

There are foreign buyer registrations from 100+ countries. Ministerial and Business Delegations are expected from key textiles hubs including Australia, Italy, Turkey, South Korea, Bangladesh, Russia, Peru, Egypt, and Thailand

Major Textiles states of the country have a shown a great deal of interest. UP and Maharashtra have become partner states and other PM MITRA states like MP, Gujarat and Telangana supporting partner states. States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Assam have their dedicated pavilions.

The Bharat Tex 2024, a unique and one-of-its-kind event, is fundamentally different from routine Buyer-Seller Meets and exhibitions in variety of ways. It is different in terms of size, dimension, scale, scope, intent, objective and approach. This biggest textile show on the globe with 3500 plus exhibitors cutting across the entire textiles value chain, 3000 plus reputed international buyers and 40000 plus domestic buyers will be a textile extravaganza in true sense of the term, aimed essentially at demonstrating the Indian textile story and eco-system to the rest of the world by showcasing India’s unique strength across the entire textile value chain.

The purpose is not only to showcase the range and variety of Indian products but also India’s strategy in the textiles sector. The objective is to properly tell India story and position India as the attractive sourcing destination. The intent is to demonstrate to the world that India is future-ready.

All these years there was smugness combined with lack of confidence and absence of synergy. This complacent and inward-looking approach didn’t allow this sector to dream big. Much water has flown under the bridge since. There is a visible change and shift in the approach and the thought process. In this new resurgent and confident India, the Indian textile industry is prepared to share its exhibition space with Bangladeshi or Vietnamese counterparts in its home ground and display its products alongside and thus this time around there will be

participation also from competing countries as exhibitors. This would have been unthinkable few years back.

There was never ever any reverse buyer-seller meet of this magnitude. Most of the EPCs and associations were earlier operating in silos, sometimes even at cross-purposes, without any vision of collective growth. This is the first ever occasion when all EPCs and associations got together to join hands to present a collective front and represent the entire values chain- from Farm to Fashion. For the very first-time, the world can see the entire value chain of Indian textiles under one roof to fulfil PM Modi’s 5F vision. On the display will be apparel & fashion, home textiles, handicrafts & carpets, handlooms, yarn and fibres. We will witness the confluence of the rich textile tradition and heritage with the latest innovations.

The textile Industry genuinely feels that the event has come at just about the right time when the Indian apparel industry with unprecedented support of the Government of India in the form of many new trade and investment promotion measures such as Production Linked Incentive Scheme and PM MITRA textile integrated park is looking forward to enhancing investments including foreign direct investments to further strengthen its production capacity while maintaining international quality standards.

At this crucial juncture in geo politics, when the entire global supply chain is in a state of re-alignment and re-orientation, this event can catapult India as the major alternative to global textile players like China & Vietnam.

No wonder, therefore, that big names of the Indian textile industry like Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Arvind Fashions, Welspun Living, Indorama Ventures, Trident Group, PDS and Shahi amongst others have actively associated themselves with the event. The entire industry is already experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) syndrome.

An event of this significance will go a long way in reviving this all-important labour-intensive sector having incredible potential of employment generation, which holds key to harnessing the demographic dividend and help us realise the dream of Vikshit Bharat by 2047.

India has the resources, talent and capability and all it needed was the right opportunity. The avenues and possibilities created by this mega event will transform India as the preferred sourcing destination for textiles products and will

ensure India its due place in terms of branding and offer limitless opportunities to the Indian exporting fraternity to connect with rest of the stakeholders of the textile world

The article is authored by Shri Mithileshwar Thakur, Secretary General, Apparel Export Promotion Council

Published on: Sunday, February 25, 2024, 11:06 AM IST