News Briefs - New Cloth Market March 2019

NEWS BRIEFS Conference On "Technology Options for Sustainable Growth of Indian Chemical Industry" held by UDCT Alumni Association (UAA) in Ahmedabad The UDCT Alumni Association (UAA) & the UAA Ahmedabad Chapter organised a 1-day Seminar on "Technology Options for Sustainable Growth of Indian Chemical Industry" on February 9, 2019 to celebrate the completion of 25 years of the UDCT Alumni Association (UAA)- Ahmedabad Chapter. The Silver Jubilee Seminar was held in the HT Parekh Hall of the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).

Prof. M.M. Sharma, a world-renowned chemical engineering scientist and Former Director of ICT, Mumbai, was the chief guest of the programme. His Keynote Address covered the topic of Innovations in Chemical Industry. Incidentally, Prof. MM Sharma was the initiator and mentor of the foundation of the UDCT Alumni Association Ahmedabad Chapter which was inaugutated by him twenty five years ago.

Prof. G.D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor, ICT, in his address at the openning session, made a presentation on "Green Chemistry & Engineering in the Safer & Benign Manufacture of Chemicals, Materials & Energy" and highlighted the key role of ICT being played in this area. He also gave details of the ICT's research activities and ambitious expansion plans including future ones.

Prof. Yadav gave the following information related to the upcoming ICT campuses to the audience, most of whom were UDCT alumni.

1. Maharashtra Govt. has offered 203 acres land for ICT Marahthwada,

Prof. G.D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor, ICT, at the openning session, with a presentation on "Green Chemistry & Engineering in the Safer & Benign Manufacture of Chemicals, Materials & Energy" Jalna off-Campus. It was inauguration on May 4, 2018 by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

2. ICT Mumbai IndianOil Odisha Campus in Bhubaneswar, was inaugurated by Hon’ble President of India, on March 18, 2018. It is supported by the Indian Oil Corporation supports 3. This is the first example of Industry suppor ted campus. IIT Kharagpur has joined for Research and Innovation Centre Innovative programmes: Integrated M.Tech.

(Trimester, 2 year internship), Executive M. Tech., and Ph D. programmes, involving intense industry interactions, will be offered.

All the three campuses, mentioned above, will be Centres of Excellence in Research and Innovation.

Prof. Yadav said that ICT was no longer just a Chemical Technology institute. ICT has successfully integrated Chemical Sciences, Engineering and Technology; Product Engineering, Materials Sciences and Engineering, Biological Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Energy Science and Engineering. The Institute is now leading in research in the fields of Green, Nano, Bio technologies.

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Prof. Yadav also talked about a number of research projects where Green Chemistry and Engineering were play a significant role in the development of sustainable processes and waste minimization. Prof. Yadav disussed several novel projects - undertaken and ongoing - at the ICT and highlighted the following key points: 1. Understanding role of pores, particles and interfaces will help in developing cleaner and greener processes.

2. Use of waste biomass, carbon dioxide, water, air and sunlight will lead to sustainability.

3. Nothing is waste but wealth and a systems engineering approach should be helpful in best use of materials and energy.

Earlier, the programme started with the welcome speech by Shri Sanjay Shah, Chairman of the UAAAhmedabad Chapter, who briefed the delegates about the history of the Ahmedabad Chapter and also about it's activities.

Shri Sanjay Shah said that the UAA and all of its Chapters in India and abroad were actively engaged in supporting ICT in all its endeavours. The

NEWS BRIEFS support was made possible through generous financial contributions especially from alumni and from industry.

Shri Shah informed the audience that the Silver Jubilee committee of the Ahmedabad Chapter in charge of organising the one-day seminar was targeting a handsome donation to support two important projects that the UAA is currently involved with at ICT: 1. Upgradation of laboratory infrastructure to make it world-class; and 2. Supporting student welfare activities, including, providing loans, scholarships etc. to needy students.

Shri Shah informed that already Rs. 65 lakhs target was achieved. He said that the student welfare activities would also be done by the UAAAhmedabad Chapter from part of the funds collected.

Prof. Padma Devrajan, President of the UAA, in her speech gave details about the association and its activities. "Our Alumni Association is just 30 years old. We have about 6500 members and nine chapters across the country of which I must put on record that the Ahmedabad is one of the most active chapters we have," she said bringing cheers to all the members present in the hall. She also informed that UAA had six chapters across the world including two in USA. Prof. Devrajan announced that there was soon going to be a third chapter in the west coast of USA bringing the total overseas number to seven.

Prof. Devrajan also informed that UAA was spearheading a very important activity at ICT, which is the introduction of short weekend refresher course on Chemical Technology practices. According to her the course curriculum was being finalised by her colleagues and would be ready soon.

"Since 2018, we've started a student innovation competition where students are asked to submit an idea and make a three minute on-the-spot presenta-

Shri Sanjay Shah, Chairman of the UAA-Ahmedabad Chapter, giving his welcome address

Prof. Padma Devrajan, President of the UAA, delivering her speech "We have started inviting distinguished alumni so our students can interact with them. Students are so happy to connect to alumni. This kind of interaction charges them up not only personally but also towards their love for ICT. Unless we build up that love for the alma mater, or love for the Institute, initially, which turns into your alma mater, it does not work because it's very difficult to reach out to alumni and create the passion. We must create the passion inside and send them out. And that is what we are trying now as a new method." Prof. Padma Devrajan tion on their ideas. We are promoting innovation and in view of very encouraging response ICT is working on the idea to set up an Innovation Council," Prof. Devrajan informed.

instituting awards, providing loans to needy students, arranging factory visits etc. She exhorted members to come forward and help in whatever way it suits them.

Prof. Devrajan sought support from alumni for infrastructure development,

"ICT is growing and the number of students has expanded. We need your

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NEWS BRIEFS

Prof. MM Sharma delevering Keynote Address on "Innovations in the Chemical Industry" support in summer internships and job placements. We have launched a mentoring program which has received reasonably good support but it requires institutional level support.

Mentoring is another very, very important area where you can support from wherever you are."

Prof. Devrajan urged members to participate in large numbers in the celebrations to be held in May to commemorate three decades of excellence on the occasion of UAA's completion of 30 years.

Keynote Address on "Innovations in the Chemical Industry" by Prof.

MM Sharma It was a proud moment for all those present in the hall to be in the company of Prof. MM Sharma who needed absolutely no introduction. Listening to him is always a treat and one has to be really lucky to have an opportunity for that treat.

In his Address, Prof. Sharma traced the history of chemical innovation since the early 1850s to current innovations and emphasized utility of chemical industries in daily life. According to him soda ash - bulk of which (90% plus) in the country is made in Gujarat - was the first major innova-

Brief Profile of Professor MM Sharma Professor Man Mohan Sharma obtained Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (1958) from UDCT (ICT) and subsequently MSc (Tech) in 1960. He obtained PhD (Chemical Engineering) (1964) at Cambridge University with PV Danckwerts. In 1964, he returned to India as Professor at the University of Bombay, and later became Director of the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), now ICT (Institute of Chemical Technology A Deemed University). He remained as Professor for 33 years at UDCT, along with 8 years as Director of this Institute. He has been honored by several universities including IITs by honorary doctorates.

Professor Sharma made contributions to chemical engineering science and technology. His research interests include: Heterogeneous gas-solid-liquid reactions, Phase transfer and Solid catalysis, He has contributed extensively on the role of microphases in multiple reactions which he pioneered.

He also became an independent Editor of Chemical Engineering Science at a young age. Prof MM Sharma's Research Tree presented on June 9, 2017 - at a function held at the ICT to celebrate his 80th birthday - mentions that he has guided 71 PhDs. These PhDs have guided 450 in turn 400 and in turn 50 totaling close to 1000 students.

Professor Sharma is a recipient of a number of prestigious academic honours and awards including the 1977 Moulton Medal of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. He won the Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society for his work on "the dynamics of multi-phase chemical reactions in industrial processes". Prof Sharma became the first engineering scientist from India to be honoured with Fellowship of Royal Society (FRS) in 1990. This is considered to be one of the highest honours after the Nobel Prize. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2001), and Padma Bhushan (1987) by the President of India. He was INSA President (1989-90). tion in the history of chemical industry. The process developed then solved a major process drawback by replacing a polluting process. Hence, you may say that this was the first NCM-MARCH 2019 67

example of sustainable process way back in 1865.

Prof. Sharma talked extensively about milestones in chemical engineering

NEWS BRIEFS like the development of Solvay process, Leblanc process, the contribution of chemist Wallace Carothers in inventing neoprene and nylon and many other major achievements of chemists.

Dramatic innovations have taken place over the last 100 years leading to lower pollution, lower power consumption, lower installation costs and overall lower cost of production. The process development/improvement never ends. No technology is ever mature. So innovation is a continuing process.

Soda ash used to be manufactured using salt, limestone, sulphuric acid, and coal in the early 19th century. The process was was far from an ideal solution because of expense of its inputs and its polluting byproducts (including hydrogen chloride gas). The Solvay process or ammonia-soda process is the first example of sustainable process for the production of sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na2CO3).The ammonia-soda process was developed into its modern form

by Ernest Solvay in 1865.

Gujarat is home to caustic soda also.

A number of caustic-chlorine plants.

Dramatic innovations have taken place in this area. People have forgotten that Tata Chemicals first used to make caustic soda by causticization of soda ash (causticization of lime which was already present in the soda ash plant).

From there we came to diaphragm cells and asbestos became a curse so we moved on to mercury cells.

Brilliant! In the mercury cell process, sodium forms an amalgam (a 'mixture' of two metals) with the mercury at the cathode. The amalgam reacts with the water in a separate reactor called a decomposer where hydrogen gas and caustic soda solution at 50% are produced. The mercury process used the most electricity, but no steam was required to concentrate the caustic solution. However, the use of mercury demanded measures to prevent envi-

Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Founded on October 1, 1933, Institute of Chemical Technology, earlier known as University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), is India's premier teaching and research institute exclusively focussed on the chemical and allied industries. Declared as a Deemed-to-be University on September 12, 2008 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, it was granted Elite Status and Centre of Excellence by the Maharashtra government in recognition of its stellar performance on part with institutes of national eminence in April 2012.

ICT has been growing by leaps and bounds and has received many accolades. It is rated as the top-ranking institute under NAAC with an exceptional score of 3.77 and an A++ grade. The most recent laurels of ICT include its expansion with one new campus in Jalna, near Aurangabad, supported by the Government of Maharashtra with a grant of ~Rs. 400crores, and another campus at Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) supported by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, with a grant of Rs. 500-crores.

ICT conducts nine Under-Graduate programmes in Chemical Engineering; six branches of Chemical Technology (Dyestuff Technology; Fibres & Textiles Processing Technology; Food Engineering and Technology; Oils, Oleochemicals & Surfactants Technology; Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology; and Polymer & Surface Engineering), and Pharmacy. In addition, it conducts 18 Post-Graduate and 29 Ph.D. programmes, amongst others.

At the two new campuses ICT runs five-year Integrated M.Tech. programme with a unique model where the student spends alternate semesters in industry to gain handson training. An Executive M.Tech. degree is also a unique programme at the new campuses.

The faculty is highly accomplished, with multi-disciplinary interests and decorated with national and international awards and honours. ICT has a glorious history, having produced many industrialists, academics, bureaucrats, Padma awardees, secretaries to Government Departments, directors of CSIR labs and over 500 first generation entrepreneurs.

The UDCT Alumni Association (UAA) The UAA was founded in 1989 with the idea of connecting alumni with their alma mater. UAA now has more than 6,400 members nine Chapters in India (at Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar, Aurangabad, Delhi-NCR Region, Hyderabad, Kolhapur Region, Pune, Tarapur and Vapi); and in China, Singapore, Thailand, UK and USA (in Atlanta and Houston).

The Objectives of UAA are to foster fellowship and provide a forum to bring together alumni for their progress; Provide opportunities to alumni, students, teachers and nonteaching staff of ICT for academic and professional advancement; Help alumni contribute to development of ICT and society at large; and promote education and employment enhancing skills at ICT. Management of UAA is vested in a honorary Board of Governors (BOG) that gets renewed every two years. The UAA has an Advisory Council comprising very senior alumni and Past Presidents. Although the UAA is an independent body, it works in close liaison with ICT and its management.

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NEWS BRIEFS ronmental contamination. Also, mercury must be removed from the hydrogen gas and caustic soda solution.

The fate of mercury process was sealed due to incidents of mercury poisoning in Minamata and Niigata in 1972. Japan started switching to membrane cells, and today it has no more mercury cells in operation. Japan was the first major chlorine producing country to convert entirely to membrane cell technology.

Later, we moved on to an extraordinarily innovative process of membrane cell technology. I want you to sing praises for membrane cell because it's truly extraordinary in many ways. The science and technology of membrane cell arose out of a space program in America. A type of membrane which allows sodium to go through and kicks out chloride so that you get caustic soda all the way up to strength well above 32% with no chlorine. So, you call it rayon grade.

The concern over environmental problems associated with mercury cell plants initiated a revival of interest in the membrane-cell technology. Initial problems associated with membrane cells were steadily being alleviated in the early 1970s. The development of metal anodes negated problems associated with graphite anode erosion.

The importance of fuel cells for the chlorine industry is known. Now we have caustic chlorine plants with the internal fuel cell. Electricity consumption is the key parameter to measure the competiveness of a chlorine plant, being electricity up to 60% of the variable production costs. With the most up to date electrolysis technologies, the electricity consumption can be considered close to the thermodynamic limit, leaving only a small space for further power savings. The two possible breakthrough toward the reduction of power consumption for the electrolysis are both related to the use of the hydrogen available in the plant. A fuel cell system that is com-

Reliving old memories: Prof. MM Sharma with his classmate (1958) Shri Shirish M. Parikh, Chairman, Macro Polymers Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad.

Government Recognized Star Export House, Macro Polymers manufactures Synthetic Resin for Paints, Printing Inks, Wood Coating Lacquers and Adhesive Industries. Shri Shirish M. Parikh started the factory in 1962.

"My dear friends and dear alumni, chemical industry is a very charming industry. It is sometimes blamed unfairly. They say we are polluters. But we are also the persons who get rid of all the pollution.

Let me give you the most outstanding example. H2S emissions coming out of natural gas and the petroleum refining operations were absolute nuisance. Those of you old enough who remember when you traveled to Europe and went past Middle East you could see flares. The whole sky was lit. The flares were up burning also H2S, and SO2 was being emitted. How that liabilities have been converted into an asset that all the sulphur today in the world is recovered sulfur and not mined sulphur. So much sulphur is recovered today that people are trying to invent new uses of sulfur like mixing with asphalt and many other uses. You look at the amount of sulphur that comes in Jamnagar. Every refinery has sulphur. Now how did it happen? The cross-process that when H2S is burned you get SO2. H2S reacts with SO2 but you didn't want any emission after this reaction of H2S and SO2. So there was a follow-on reactor which operated at lower temperature favoring thermodynamics and you have practically no emission. You walk past any refinery you will not smell any SO2 or H2S. So, this is where you see extraordinary innovations."

Prof. MM Sharma pletely embedded into the electrolysis process, installed inside or close to the cell room, built in full compliance with the safety regulations and with customers technical standards, NCM-MARCH 2019 69

with a balanced tradeoff between the maximum system simplification and its safe performances. Other approaches are possible, such as the installation of fuel cells running on

NEWS BRIEFS Renaissance of the Fischer–Tropsch process: Refineries have to move towards making more and more petrochemicals Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin. Although some of the chemical compounds that originate from petroleum may also be derived from coal and natural gas, petroleum is the major source. The largest petrochemical industries are to be found in the USA and Western Europe, though the major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia. There is a substantial Prof. MM Sharma interregional trade in petrochemicals of all kinds. World production of ethylene is around 110 million tons per year, of propylene 65 million tons, and of aromatic raw materials 70 million tons.

Petroleum refineries are marvels of modern engineering. Within them a maze of pipes, distillation columns, and chemical reactors turn crude oil into valuable products. Large refineries cost billions of dollars, employ several thousand workers, operate around the clock, and occupy the same area as several hundred football stadiums. The U.S. has about 300 refineries that can process anywhere between 40 and 400,000 barrels of oil a day. These refineries turn out the gasoline and chemical feedstocks that keep the country running.

"Refineries have to move towards making more and more petrochemicals. There are precursors of naphthalene which you can get entirely from petroleum refinery and not from coal tar. A lot of naphthalene is imported in India.

Similarly, huge quantities of toluene, styrene, PVC, acetic acid, methanol etc. are imported. All these products can be made in India," said Dr. Sharma. He cited the example of South Africa's largest refinery, Sasol, located at Sandton near Johannesburg. Dr. Sharma predicted that within five years, at least 30% of the total capacity in some of the refineries will be utilized for petrochemicals and within another two years thereafter, it will be 50-60%. Prof.

Sharma also foresees renaissance of the Fischer–Tropsch process which is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons. The current interest in FischerTropsch synthesis has grown up as consequences of environmental demands and changes in fossil energy reserves. Fischer-Tropsch is a desirable technology producing high quality end product: ultra-clean fuel or major chemical feedstock.

Fischer-Tropsch technology - overview

Source: Sasol Technology R&D

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NEWS BRIEFS Over the coming decade, demand for oil from the transportation sector – which accounts for about 50 per cent of total oil consumption – is set to reduce as a result of electric vehicles, biofuels, strict emission regulations and higher fuel efficiencies.

Some of the comments/observations made

by Prof. MM Sharma in his Address are listed below: 1. The birth of chemical industry is related with the textile industry. Reverse osmosis has become a household name. How it has been made possible? Because you could make hollow fibre, and hollow fibre was the gift from textiles. Textile industry is the mother industry.

Crude demand will be driven by the chemical sector instead, at a rate of 4 per cent per annum – equivalent to more than half of total oil demand growth – through to 2035.

2. We are at a very advanced state globally of researchers approving a new stable catalyst capable of synthesizing methanol at low pressures using only hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This will change entirely the method of making methanol and making ammonia. All this is something very good that will happen.

The drivers behind petrochemicals demand, which is expected to more than double over the next 20 years, include population increase, improving living standards and demographic changes, particularly in developing economies in Africa and Asia. purified hydrogen form the chlorine plant.

All these process developments are related to the title of sustainability but it has now become fashionable these days to talk but green chemistry. The sustainable part has been the integral part of chemical industry from the very beginning. Example of caustic soda, nitric acid, ammonia clearly show how process problems solving leads to more greener, cheaper and sustainable environment.

Source: Sasol Limited)

Prof. Sharma predicted that the most dramatic change in coming years is going to be that you will see most petroleum refineries will turn around and go from fuels predominantly to petrochemicals because fuel consumption will keep on coming down thanks to more efficient cars and electric vehicles. Now, this is what we call a revolutionary change that is going to come and therefore unlike earlier days, all refineries are now talking about going petrochemical.

Methanol is processed in huge factories at very high pressures using hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide from natural gas. There is a need for materials than can make methanol from clean sources under lowpressure conditions, while generating low amounts of carbon monoxide. The goal is a process that can be scaled up to the industrial level while remaining nonpolluting and carbon neutral. Imagine if you could synthesize methanol using hydrogen from renewable sources, such as water split by sunlight, and carbon dioxide captured from power plants and other traditional industrial smokestacks. Eventually we would also like to make higher alcohols, such as ethanol and propanol, which, unlike methanol, can be directly added to gasoline today.

Research Scientists from Stanford University, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Technical University of Denmark, by combining theory and experimentation, have created a new nickel-gallium (Ni5Ga3) catalyst that could be used to convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide emissions into methanol. The tests have confirmed - “at high temperatures, nickel-gallium produced more methanol than the conventional copper-zinc-aluminum catalyst, and considerably less of the carbon monoxide byproduct.”

"The Kingdom of Heaven runs on righteousness, but the Kingdom of Earth runs on OIL!" Dr. Donald L. Miller Professor of History and an expert on World War II

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NEWS BRIEFS Technology Options for Sustainable Textile Processing Dr. AV Prasad Managing Director, Archroma India Pvt. Ltd.

Dr AV Prasad has Master’s degree in textile chemistry and a very impressive career. He started his career in the production department in Century Mills. He has been with Clariant and later with Sandoz. He grew from a technical executive to Vice President, Senior Vice President and to the Country Head in textiles. He was the Global Head of new business development handling innovation projects for alliances, joint ventures and collaborations. He has published more than hundred articles and presented more than hundred papers in major seminars.

Excerpts of Dr AV Prasad’s speech at the Conference On “Technology Options for Sustainable Growth of Indian Chemical Industry” held by UDCT Alumni Association (UAA) in Ahmedabad I would like to take you to the journey of what’s happening in textiles and what are the challenges for the textile industry. Before I get into that, I just want to make you aware about Archroma. Many people would know Sandoz quite well. Many people would know Hoechst quite well. Many people would know BASF quite well and also a lot of companies in this domain. We have gone through this acquisition process in the last 20 years and a lot of consolidation has happened in this whole process. And now we are here as Archroma having five companies in our portfolio. Overall, we got very good products in the acquisitions including lot of leather chemicals and a few products mainly for the construction industry.

First, I’ll show you a short video.

What’s the problem of textiles? The whole value chain of textiles from the

Dr AV Prasad speaking on "Technology Options for Sustainable Textile Processing" Archroma is a global color and specialty chemicals company headquartered in Reinach near Basel, Switzerland. It operates with 3,000 employees over 35 countries and with 24 production sites. Its three businesses – Brand & Performance Textile Specialties, Packaging & Paper Specialties, and Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants – deliver specialized performance and color solutions to meet customers’ needs in their local markets, touching and coloring people’s lives every day, everywhere.

Archroma was formed in October 2013 from the textile, paper and emulsions businesses of Clariant. Clariant itself was formed in 1995 as a spin off from Sandoz, a chemical company which was established in Basel in 1886. In 1997, Clariant acquired the speciality chemicals business of Hoechst, a German chemical company.

Since then, Archroma has been growing organically and with its first acquisitions: – In May 2014: 49% in M. Dohmen SA, an international group specializing in the production of textile dyes and chemicals for the automotive, carpet and apparel sectors; – In July 2015: The global textile chemicals business of BASF; – In September 2017: An additional share of 26% in M. Dohmen, giving Archroma a controlling 75% participation in the M. Dohmen group.

Through this direct lineage, Archroma has knowledge and experience of chemistry and industry spanning more than 130 years. fiber to the retail doesn’t end there.

It’s also the recycling part at the end of the day. Everything is under squeeze. Everything is about profit making and you can see this in the video which is made by JP Morgan.

This is a two hour movie - called True cost - which you can watch on YouTube. The movie shows to the college students and to the brands NCM-MARCH 2019 72

what we're doing to the environment and ecology by unethical means. How we are spoiling the environment. Everything has been captured very well in the film and I’ll just show you a small trailer of that. It shows what problems are happening in Bangladesh. This shows what is happening with the garment factories collapsing. It shows unethical means

NEWS BRIEFS in which the procedures are not being followed. The amount of pile of cotton waste like mountains lying around the world. And what do we do with that?

Recycling of cotton is one of the biggest challenges because of two major reasons. One is that most of the fabric is dyed with reactive dyes which are covalently bound. You can destroy the chromophore but the covalent bond cannot be destroyed. So it doesn’t help you in the process of the first stage of recycling what is called ‘stripping’. And then the next stage is the dissolution part. The other big problem is the resins which we use there. They also cause a lot of problems because resins are also cross linking.

We are coming out with new technologies where we are going away from the chemistry of reactive dyes. We’re looking at Sulfur dyes which can be stripped off easily as they don’t form the covenant bond. So, this helps in a way for the recycling. Then we need to find alternatives to resin which can be stripped and go forward. And in terms of various things, which we’re doing around as a company finding ways for every chemistry which is there, which we can make it more ecological.

One of the big topics which we have been discussing is concerning the washing machines. As you know that earlier there was the use of various anionic detergents. We call AOS chemistry or SOS chemistry. But now there’s more of glucosides which are fully biodegradable and can be used for hand wash and home cleaning purposes. Most of these big companies like Procter & Gamble are good at changing the words that reflects the technology but this helps in a way.

They claim that OECD method shows that 100% degradation takes place in 28 days. But normally our detergent which we use is not going beyond 85%. 15% still remains after 28 days, which we need to be treating today.

Mr. Satish Shah, Hon. Treasurer, UAA - Ahmedabad Chapter (Right) presenting a memento to Dr. AV Prasad, Managing Director, Archroma India Pvt. Ltd. We started off in the hand wash in a big way. But no textile mill has started using because of the cost. But you know it very well. It’s (glucosides) one of the best chemistries for the future.

Let's now see the extent of pollution being caused in the textile industry.

It is estimated that about 6 million tons of textile chemicals are used around the world. Around 20% of the pollution in the waste water segment is coming from the textiles and 5% of the total landfill is also coming from the textiles. The challenges: now you have zero discharge and you finally land up with the salt. And ash, if you have incineration. At the end of the day, there’s no solution to the ash, there’s no solution to the salt. You can put it in construction and a lot of other things. But there are a lot of things actually happening in our textile mills, where the people will find it more economical to do it that way. These are two big challenges which I see.

I find Tirupur to be the best place where we see a lot of change has NCM-MARCH 2019 73

happened. They have learned the whole process by putting a lot of investment. But in the process, what happened, you know, when you go to a textile mill, a knitwear plant. the break even point for them is 16 tons a day of production without zero discharge. And none of them was actually at that level. And they are more or less collapsing. Bangladesh has an average size of 40 tons or 45 tons but Pakistan has got more. And there are bigger companies having up to 500 tons or more like Gildan, which is there in Honduras. These are huge companies. So, India then slowly, slowly expanded and came to a size of 25-30 tons, which is still a break even point higher than that 16 tons/ day level for without zero discharge unit. But when zero discharge is to be followed the break even is about 22 tons/day to make money otherwise they’re just servicing.

The next point is that in India, the textile industry was never involved in garment making. It was all left for the tailors to do the business and gov-

NEWS BRIEFS ernment did not allow the large garment producers to come forward. Now there’s a lot of investment happening in Jharkhand and also in the Telangana area, where they’re trying to set up units by offering rebate system for the garment factories to match the labor costs of Bangladesh.

But we don't know how long this rebate will continue. But there are big companies like Orient Craft, Arvind and Shahis wo are participating.

We must also note that textile was never fully integrated in the value chain. If you remember of the pastmay be even before I started studying - we used to have 18 to 20% yarn production as our contribution to the world. We also had a good contribution in the weaving sector but processing was not bad at that time. We had hundred mills in Mumbai, another hundred mills in Ahmedabad. We were contributing at least 18 to 20% share (of processing) to the total fabric production in the country. But now it’s hardly four to five percent.

The main reasons for this decline are: there’s hardly any innovation taken place, the plant size remain so low, wastewater problems exist everywhere, etc. Processors are under pessure everywhere. The whole ground water has gone ba in Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Surat and other places. There’s no CETP connection.

They have to relocate. These are the biggest problems that the textile industry needs to solve. Otherwise, the industry will not survive for too long.

The way things are moving in our industry, bigger ones (units) will grow and become more big and when this happens (big ones becoming bigger) then enter the bigger retailers who come into play and squeeze the price they have to pay. Walmart will not allow you to get a penny more than what they want to pay. They will feed you in order to make you big. But then when you are becoming big, they will try to start squeezing you and you can’t come out of the business.

These are the problems which one has to be looking at. The whole value chain has to be looked at from fiber to the consumer and then to the disposal part. In this whole chain, everyone has to contribute whether one is involved in fabric or in fiber production.

Now, more or less, the synthetic fibres are going up globally. 55-60% is mostly synthetic and in future it’s going to be more. China is much more in terms of percentage than what India has. We have at least 50 or 55% of cotton still remaining in India. But this will slowly change.

Let's look at the quality issues now. I was talking to Decathlon, one of the good polyester sourcing brands, only to be told that we have no good technology available even to process a good polyester fabric. People are still going to Korea and to Taiwan to get the right polyester. We have Surat for example, a big polyester hub but then buyers don't get quality. We are only for the local market. In case of polyester, there is a big demand for high quality fabrics. There’s a lot of need to make this possible in India.

This situation needs to change and a lot of investment has to happen to bring the right kind of processing techniques in the country. For example, consider the whole process of weight reduction. There’s not a single unit which has got it a right way. Research and technology for polyester to get the right feel is lacking. There are challenges at every stage which we need to address if we want to survive being in India.

Other issues are related to the interest rate, the freight movement, the services available at ports we have, and others.

You’ll be shocked to know that our GNPT port is at the 27th position in the world ranking of ports. 27th in the world! And we are talking about the economy! There are 5 ports in China that rank among the top 10. Shanghai is number one and the second is Singapore. Singapore is more of oil based. But then there are many in China. And they have achieved that very well. The transit time and the turnaround time are the critical parameters for any port. We were having around three weeks of turnaround time which is now squeezed to about a week. But in Shanghai, you have one day of turnaround time. And this is really very challenging now.

Now let's talk about the innovations taking place around us in terms of game changing technologies. A number of topics have been addressed in the textile industry on the fabric part.

Some innovations are driven by the feel of the fabric. We’re changing the feel of a substrate that is first thing.

Second thing is making it possible to impart some functional comfort properties to the fabric. Either it’s more absorbent, or more comfortable to wear or it keeps the fabric cooler. The next thing is about the looks which may be combined with style and/or fashion.

However, we are much better than Bangladesh in terms of following the ethical ways to condust our businesses. We have better plants and are in a much better position overall.

Now the technological aspects come into play like nanotechnology, energy saving processes, ecology and so on.

But in textiles, innovations are still vastly driven by the functionalities requirements for products like towel, home textile, technical textile, etc. It's all about functionality. In case of apparel also, the focus is enhancing the functionality.

We need to seriously address all the issues related with pollution in order to effectively control it. This can get us more business.

There is a question now that how to change consumers' habits to make them aware about the importance of saving the water usage in the house-

NCM-MARCH 2019 74

NEWS BRIEFS hold washing machines. There’s a company in the US, they’ve launched a product called 'Ably'. You can google it on the kickstart.com, you’ll find it.

They’ve come out with a T shirt which we don’t have to wash. It stays fresh, doesn’t absorb anything. That’s the way they’re promoting. And they call it Filium™ technology that makes natural fabrics repel liquids, stains, and odors. You can have a look at that.

And this is good as a change. If this catches up, you can wear it maybe for about six months. You can go in the office or for the sports with the same t-shirt without washing because it doesn’t absorb anything. So, no sweat, no smell. If the sweat is absorbed, then only the smell comes.

Now, let's see what is happening in terms of sustainability. What are the challenges and what innovations have come up recently.

The first area is to know how the cotton or the fiber is being produced. Second is how the chemicals have been produced. Third is what are the harmful effects and the fourth how the consumer is affected. All these four areas are critical for us.

The cotton production, as you know, involves an extensive use of harmful pesticides and also consumption of huge amounts of water. These things have to be dealt with. It is widely publicised that the health of the workers, who are handling pesticides, is adversely affected and they suffer from skin irritation and various diseases. The video "True Cost" shows exactly what is happening in say, Punjab when a farmer goes and sprays pesticides on the crop. And then what kind of disease he comes back with.

Chemicals are also important. Every chemical which we make is important and requires thorough monitoring. At Archroma, we feed every production detail into the SAP so every chemical analysis is available on the database and the MSDS - Model Safety

Ably™ | Unbelievably odor & stain repellant natural apparel. Exclusively made with world's most advanced natural fabric technology Filium®.

Data Sheet. It’s online reflected and is available for everyone to examine.

So that means if a customer wants the safety data sheets, it will be online and available at all the time.

Now the way we buy the chemicals and the way we test the chemicals is also critical on account of the banned substances. Inditex and Zara are moving very strongly ahead with a lot of restrictions and most of the brands also have their own restrictions. Unfortunate part for the textile sector is that there are too many certifications.

We have Eco test, we have Blue Sign and dozens of other certifications and REACH comes in on the top. All these certifications are increasing the cost of operation unnecessarily. So we need to get out of this complex web of certifications.

When you look at the pharma industry with so much of complexity, they NCM-MARCH 2019 75

just have IPs and Pharmacopoeias (Drugs manufactured in India have to be labelled with the mandatory nonproprietary drug name with the suffix I.P. This is similar to the B.P. suffix for British Pharmacopoeia and the U.S.P. suffix for the United States Pharmacopeia). They can really run the business smoothly as there are very clear FDA regulations there. But where is the regulation in textiles?

And that’s where all these certification agencies have to come forward and make one regulation across the board. Some people have to ban it also. So much of money for each product is to be paid. You’re paying thousands of dollars for certifications. How can we compete in this situation? This is another challenge which we need to overcome.

Another important area to explore relates to how we make the products and how we can have control over it.

NEWS BRIEFS And how can we actually then modify it because it’s always controlled.

Once we know what are the ingredients inside, we keep on modifying it.

Take for example the case of cotton processing. When cotton fabric undergoes processing, we get a weight loss of 6% to 7%. Where does the fiber go? In the waste water. How do we control it? No ways. You modify the process and go for enzyme technology which could be a cheaper one, less of harsh treatment, less of damages coming from caustic soda on the fabric and then lesser sludge generation. This is one thing which we all have to work on.

We use huge amounts of caustic soda in the textile processing in processes like scouring and mercerization etc. But when caustic soda has impurities like metal inside, we get pinholes and it also leads to higher degree of polymerization loss. The outdated caustic manufacturing process has really had a big effect on the textile processing. For example, the mercury cell based manufacturing plants in the past produced caustic soda which was contaminated with lot of mercury which was bad for peroxide and the environment. Even rayon grade caustic soda being offered today by some suppliers has a lot of zinc inside which leads to adverse results.

As regards the certification, we need to find the way how can we harmonize the certifications. So many certifications exist and every certification keeps on adding more. And there seems to be no end. Not only this, the brands have their own certifications. So it becomes even complex for one processor who says I’m supplying to Zara, I’m supplying to Marks & Spencer, I’m supplying to H&M and I’m supplying to Walmart, but everyone has a different standard which makes the job of the processor burdensome and expensive. So, it becomes too complex for people to fully understand and comply. And that’s

why we get a lot of inquiries to help them to improve their processes.

We, at Archroma, have introduced several innovations. I don’t want to talk about individual products here but only outline a few innovations to give you an idea about what we have done.

We have our own Zero Discharge Plant in Pakistan and we are doing very well. Archroma's production site at Jamshoro, near Hyderabad, Pakistan, is operational since 1970, where dyestuffs for the local and international textile industry are produced. This plant plant combines flocculation, equalization, surface aeration, clarification, ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis. The resultant recovered water is returned for use in the production facility and so significantly reduces our demand from local water supplies.

Every day, between 1,200 and 1,300 cubic meters of effluent is generated which passes through sustainable effluent treatment. Eighty percent of the water is recovered, the remaining water is lost through evaporation and results in 3 to 4 tons of dried sludge which is then incinerated. Incinerating the sludge creates steam, which is used in the production facility. The Sustainable Effluent Treatment facility operates with zero discharge, reduced steam energy and reclaimed water.

We have launched EarthColors – A range of textile dyes made of agricultural waste and fully traceable from the source to the shop - which are made from the almond shells, saw palmetto, rosemary leaves, and other natural non-edible agricultural waste products that would otherwise be sent to landfill. For this new range of “biosynthetic” dyes, we procure various ingrdients and make a nice range of colors, which is getting very popular among many of the brands like Levi’s, and Patagonia. They’re really taking the storyline ahead quite well.

EarthColors are designed to provide rich red, brown and green colors to denim & casualwear.

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EarthColors® is Archroma’s patented new method of synthesizing dyes to produce warm shades from nature.

Archroma’s EarthColors® technology creates fully traceable biosynthetic dyes derived from natural waste products of the agriculture and herbal industries; leaving the edible part still available for food consumption.

EarthColors® dyestuffs are bluesign® and GOTS approved products.

Archroma’s effor ts to improve sustainability in the textiles industry reflect in its work in dyeing systems for denim under the brand “Advanced Denim”. Patagonia, one of the most forward thinking of the major clothes brands, was the first in 2015 to announce a new dyeing and manufacturing process developed using Archroma’s Advanced Denim technology.

Advanced Denim uses dyestuffs that bond more easily to cotton, minimizing the resource usage of traditional dyeing of denim. As a result, Patagonia is using 84% less water, 30% less energy and emitting 25% less CO2 than conventional synthetic indigo denim dyeing processes.

Using the Advanced Denim concept with the sulfur dyes, we can save 90% water. It’s a slightly expensive than the Indigo process. But we have colors in sulfur which can replicate the Indigo with the right wash down effect. We have been able to successfully demonstrated the efficacy of the Advanced Denim technology.

We have another innovation called Inkpresso® – A breakthrough system allowing textile digital printers to produce their inks on site - for digital printing.

We have launched a new Digital Printing system where instead of transporting the liquid inks to the cus-

NEWS BRIEFS tomer premises, what we are doing is putting the purified powder dyes.

And then we have the process and a machine to make the ink live and next to the digital machine. Fortunately, I was one of the patent holders for developing this in my global role. So this is really becoming a game changer in the digital space. And now the future would be that on the inkjet machines that you have online, put in a dyestuff on-site and you get the ink manufactured. But still the problem is still the pigment printing through the digital means. The binder systems still have to be improved. So there are a lot of companies working on that.

This is a big project worldwide. Every ink manufacturer is trying to get the right binder system which doesn’t choke because one print head is costing 6000 euro and there are 128 print heads. You can imagine if out of 128 printheads, 28 go then its a lot of cost. And people are looking at getting the liability declarations on the print head.

We have launched the Color Atlas, which is like the Pantone. Pantone had X gamut of shades. But we have now expanded that to a bigger gamut called Color Atlas where you can really put in a pdesign online and get the color separations. Color Atlas is an empowering color tool, one that would help you find the exact color you need for your specific application. The idea is to offer you options you’ve never even dreamed of, and the ultimate goal is to deliver your final choice with unparalleled accuracy, no matter the application. We cover a lot of gamut of shades. You can use your mobile device to take photos or use existing images to search the library to find matching colors via Color Atlas Online. The app Color Atlas Online offers dedicated color pages with dyeing recipes, technical support, and visual representation of similar colors. A lot of brands have started using this.

We have the One Way- a sort of calculator which even blue sign has

Archroma's Inkpresso®: Bringing ink manufacture back to the printer More than 20 billion linear meters of printed textiles are produced every year. Currently, only around two percent of these are made using digital printing techniques. Introduced in November 2015, Inkpresso® is a pioneering system that Archroma believes will mark a turnaround in the textile digital printing market.

Developed together with Ink-Situ, a Swiss technology provider, Inkpresso® will change the way inks are supplied to digital printers. The system brings together benefits that were unattainable so far in inkjet printing: Production flexibility, no shelf-life problems, a larger color spectrum and the possibility of an individual coloristic fingerprint. A major component of ready-mixed inks is water. This, however, leads to higher transport costs, increasing environmental impact and reduced shelf life. The Inkpresso system enables mixing of the required ink on site and on demand.

The central component of the system is the Inkpresso Ink Formulation Unit (IFU), where eight color modules are available. The colors can be mixed to meet manufacturers’ specific needs – at any time. Depending on the size and complexity of the printing company, inks can be sent directly from the Inkpresso IFU to the printer through a piping system, or several printers can be supplied simultaneously using a special distribution unit. In addition, colors can be stored for several weeks in a storage unit.

Inkpresso is driving the digital printing revolution by bringing ink manufacture back to the printers themselves. started using. It can calculate water, electricity and all the utility consumption plus the carbon footprint. The other major thing it can calculate is a BOD, COD ratios by which the elimination factor can be calculated. These things are really helping us to take our business online so that you can have a look at some of the commodities being offered online.

We have also got Smartrepel® Hydro – Non-fluorine water repellent protection. SmartRepel® Hydro supports the increasing adoption of eco-advanced materials and production processes by textile producers and brand owners. It is a based on new generation of non-fluorine chemistry that meets criteria for PFC-free finishes and clothing: compliant with ZDHC MRSL and Oeko-Tex® standard; bluesign® approved. This new range is Archroma’s nature-friendlier protection that keeps cotton, polyester and polyamide textiles dry. The unique technology offers exceptional, durable water repellency and is not based on fluorine. SmartRepel® Hydro proNCM-MARCH 2019 77

duces a soft hand feel and outstanding breathability – the perfect long-lasting, high-performance finish for weatherproof garments.

Another big innovation from Archroma is oxidized sulfur dyes with a wide range of shades that we can just pad dry or pad fix. There is no water consumption. We are working on this innovation to further improve it because this is going to be a game changer technology better than the pigment printing. In case of pigments, we still have to carry out some processes where we have to make the fabrics soft. We have to come out with softer binders and other things.

Archroma's innovations include an aniline-free (below limits of detection) denim indigo dye. It provides a nontoxic way to produce the traditional, iconic indigo blue for denim and jeans.

Currently, aniline impurities are an unavoidable element of producing indigo-dyed denim. Unlike other chemical impurities, aniline is locked into the indigo pigment during the dyeing

NEWS BRIEFS process and therefore cannot be washed off the fabric. These impurities are toxic to humans as well as to aquatic life. The Denisol® Pure Indigo 30 dye is one of the finest sustainable innovations for denim in addition to ‘Advanced Denim’ technology which uses up to 90% less water during the dyeing process. Being not indigo but sulfur based, ‘Advanced Denim’ is also an aniline free solution.

pur there is a lot of consumption of BPO still around which really needs an attention from the mill owners to stop using the BPO based detergents.

Ethoxylate detergents are the best for efficiency but they are not good for the ecology. The processing houses still use lot of chlorinated solvents which contain a lot of BOD and COD and this needs to be addressed. I’m trying to work out with the companies around to see how we can help them so that they come out of this. I wanted to communicate through my presentation on what are going to be the next stages of innovations where we can contribute either in the form of a speciality product or in the form of an innovative process technology including the recycling part.

Archroma’s Double Black is an innovative concept for a superior level of black. Double Black is a synergy of dyeing technologies that creates stunning, deep black shades under any lighting conditions, with great flexibility and excellent wash-fastness.

The global apparel trade expanded for the second consecutive year in CY 2018 with YoY growth of -3%, following a 2% growth in CY 2017 in US$ terms and contractions reported earlier in CY 2015 and CY 2016. However, given the decline in two out of the last five years, the trade value in CY 2018 stood only -2% higher than the level seen in CY 2013. The positive trend during the last two years has been led by the strong recovery in apparel imports by the EU, which accounts for two-fifth of the global apparel trade (including the trade within EU) and reported a growth of 5.8% and 3.9% in apparel imports in CY 2018 and CY 2017 respectively, following a muted growth of 1.9% in CY 2016. Unilke the EU, apparel imports by the US remain muted with a 2% growth in CY 2018, though the trend has improved during the past two years.

The main problem with black is that it fades every time you wash the black and then you don’t get that same look of the black. So we have now come out with some techniques and some fixatives which can improve that.

Double Black brings together in one process a sulfur black dyestuff, Diresul® Black RDT-2KS liq, and a reactive black dyestuff, Drimaren® Black CL-S, resulting in a superior level of deep black shades and enhanced performance for cellulose fibers.

Double Black represents a significant improvement in the field of black shades for cellulose. It combines the high performance of sulfur blacks (perspiration/ light fastness, etc.) with the features of reactive blacks (shade flexibility, repetitive washing fastness etc.). As a result, a superior level of depths, tone flexibility and fastness is achieved. And all that is achieved without an increase in processing time because scouring and Diresul® black dyeing is carried out at the same time.

Another problem that we want to overcome is to discourage and eliminate the use in Ethoxylates detergents/ BPOs. Some of the markets in India like Surat, Amritsar, Bhilwara, Jodh-

Global Apparel Trade: A Review

China - the world's largest apparel manufacturer and exporter, has been challenged by rising production costs in recent years. As a result, its apparel exports are now considerably lower than the peak level witnessed in CY 2014.

Although China managed to arrest the pace of decline in its apparel exports in CY 2018, expanding global apparel trade resulted in a continued decline in its market share. Bangladesh and Vietnam remain the key gainers of the market released by China. Bangladesh's growth continues to be supported by the availability of low cost labour and competitive advantage in the form of lower import duties provided by some of the world's largest apparel importing countries.

Bangladesh has been the key beneficiary of China's declining share in the EU. Vietnam, the third largest apparel exporter, on the other hand, has maintained growth in its stronghold market of the US. While Bangladesh hasn't been able to grow in Vietnam's key target market i.e. the US in the last few years, Vietnam continues to grow at a healthy pace in Bangladesh's key target market of EU also. In this context, signing of the proposed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and full enforcement of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CP TPP) would further strengthen Vietnam's positioningin the global apparel trade.

India's apparel exports: After a double-digit de-growth for four consecutive quarters, India's apparel exports stabilised during Q3 FY2019,reportinga 14% YoY growth to US$ 3.6 billion. The growth is,however,mainly explained by a low base effect considering that India had reported a -19% YoY decline in apparel exports during Q3 FY2018 following a downward revision in export incentives after the transition to the GST regime. Thus, even after a recovery, India's apparel exports in Q3 FY 2019 remained lower than the averagequarterly exports during the past five years. Further, FY 2019 is expected to be the fourth consecutive weak year for India's apparel exports with a -4-5% de-growth (vis-a-vis 6.5% deNCM-MARCH 2019 78

NEWS BRIEFS growth in 10 M FY2019), following the 4% de-growth in FY 2018 and modest growth rates of 1% and 3% in FY 2016 and FY 2017 respectively.

ers are predominantly present, translated into a healthy growth for ICRA's sample during the current financial year.

Besides intense compettiive pressures from nations having a cost advantage over India and an inexplicable dedine in exports to the UAE, concerns arising from the US's allegations against certain export subsidy schemes in India, seem to be constraining the overallmomentum of the apparel export sector of India. Going forward,steps taken by the Government to address these concerns, besides impending developments in the international trade including the CP TPP and the EU-Vietnam FTA, remain crucial for the sector participants.

Besides, favourable currency movement and healthy growth in revenues facilitated an improvement in margins in the recent quarters, given the operating leverage inherent in the operations. Thus, despite higher raw material prices,the operating margins averaged -14% in the past six quarters, compared to aggregate operating margins of 9-12% during the fivequarter period ending June 2017.

Supported by better margins, the aggregate interest cover for ICRA' s sample also improved, averaging 5.7 times in 9 M FY 2019 vis-a-vis s.o times in 9 M FY 2018.

Moreover, the movement in Indian currency vis-a-vis currencies of competing nations too will determine the relative competitiveness of the Indian players. This is particularly critical considering the cost advantages in terms of lower labor and financing cost that some of these nations enjoy.

Nevertheless, ICRA notes that the Government's accommodative stance of reversing the reduction in export incentives has provided some interim relief to the apparel exporters.

Financial performance of Indian apparel manufacturers:

Outlook: ICRA's sample comprising 13 large, listed, garment-manufacturing companies grew by 13% (YoY) in Q3 FY 2019, following the similar average growth rate during the previous four quarters. ICRA believes that presence in the niche and value-added product segments, together with access to an established client base has helped export-based companies to maintain revenu e growth, despite the increasing competitive pressures from peer nations. This, together with a revival in domestic demand, post transitory pressures of demonetisation and GST, particularly in metros and tier -1 markets where the larger listed play-

share of organised retail present significant growth opportunities for the domestic garmenting and retailing industry in the long term. However,the extent of growth for the domestic companies will be partly determined by their competitiveness vis-a-vis the international suppliers and the level of imports in the country. Although on a low base,apparel imports have risen by more than 50% in the current year,highlighting a potential threat to the domestic industry. However, large garment manufactures would continue to benefit from the economies of scale in a fragmented industry, which would also enable them to cater to the organised apparel sector, resulting in better realisations. Also, strong apparel brands would be in a better position to achieve growth in a fragmented industry and command premium pricing.

While India has a large fibre base, the share of Indian garment exports has remained low a 3-4% in the global apparel trade. Going forward,s teps taken by the Government of India to address the concerns on the continuance of export subsidy schemes, will remain crucial f or the Indian apparel e xporters to capitalise on revived global apparel trade and loss of market NCM-MARCH 2019 79

share by China. Besides, the full implementation of the CP TPP as well as developments on the EVFTA will remain key determinants of the opportunities likely to be available to the Indian apparel exporters in the global market.Also,competitiveness of the Indian apparelexporters will remain contingent upon the movement in foreign exchange rates. Nonetheless, benefits under the Central schemes as well as several state textile policies, relaxed labour norms, and sharing of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) burden as introduced under the textile policy,augur well for the competitiveness of the Indian apparel exporters.

Highlights: Fabric Sector Trend In fabric production: Fabric production in India increased by -4% YoY to 51.9 billion sq.mtrs in 9 M FY 2019. Even though thegrowth appears moderated vis¡a-vis 5% growth reported in FY2018, this is better than the average -2% growth reported during the past decade. There is a possibility that the growth during FY 2018 and 9 M FY 2019 has been partly driven by improved reporting by the unorganised segment post GST implementation. Besides, the growth has also been supported by revival in domestic demand in the downstream segments.

The growth in some of the recent years had been constrained by multiple headwinds. Besides demandside pressures arising from subdued exports of apparels and fabrics, the sector experienced challenges owing to demonetisation as well as transition to the GST regime. The headwinds faced by the weaving segment were particularly strong, as the segment is highly fragmented and consists primarily of the unorganised segment.ICRA notes that the structuralchallenges for the Indian fabric industry remain, including very high fragmentation and lack of modernisation. Thus, the sustainability of the recent trend remains to be seen. Contd. On Page

NEWS BRIEFS TAI's International Textile Conference on “TEXTILE 4.0 – Second Edition” was a huge success Overwhelming Reponse for TAI, Mumbai Unit Conference held on February 7, 2019 at Hotel The Lalit, Mumbai TEXTILE 4.0 The Second Edition International Conference gets an overwhelming response from Indian Textile & Garment industry, same as the First Edition.

The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit has the distinction of organising the international conferences on the emerging areas of Textile Trade and industry. During March 2018, TAI Mumbai Unit organised an international conference on “Textile 4.0; a first of its kind in Asia and perhaps the second in the world to bring home the concept and its relevance to global competitiveness. During Industry 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, the technological developments were seen by leaps and bounds.

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 in fact began in 2007.The new industrial revolution 4.0 is characterised by a confluence of emerging technology breakthroughs, including mobile connectivity, artificial intelligence, Internet of things, next-generation robotics, 3D printing, wearable and genetic engineering, nanotechnology, advanced materials, biotechnology and others.

These technologies, combined and connected, will transform manufacturing and production systems with unprecedented speed and scope, impacting business models, economic growth, employment and sustainability. Hence, Industry 4.0 stands for intelligent production and new business models. The aim is on increasing productivity, flexibility and efficiency. Industry 4.0 or I 4.0 is already being implemented in India, through joint ventures & collaborations.

Chief Guest, Mr. Sanjay K. Jain, Chairman, CITI lighting the lamp. Standing (L to R): Mr. Rahul N. Mehta, Managing Director, Creative Casualwear Pvt. Ltd., Dr. M. R. Ravi, IAS, Commissioner for Textile Development & Director of Handlooms & Textiles Department, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Sanjay K. Jain, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), Mr. Amir Sheikh, Senior Consultant, Gherzi Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Vilas Gharat, President, TAI, Mumbai Unit, Mr. G. V. Aras, Conference Chairman, Mr. A. V. Mantri, Hon. Secretary, TAI, Mumbai Unit.

Inaugural Address by Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay K. Jain, Chairman, CITI. After the successful event of March 2018, there have been queries from different parts of India to organise the Second Edition on the Textile 4.0.

Since concepts were discussed in the earlier event, it was thought appropriate to take the Second Edition on the same theme with view to address implementation of it in different segNCM-MARCH 2019 80

ment of textile and apparel value chain. This was the background for this Conference Textile 4.0 - Second Edition. It was organised on 7th February 2019 at Hotel, The Lalit, Andheri (E), Mumbai.

Inauguration function included Mr. Sanjay Jain, Chairman, CITI as Chief

NEWS BRIEFS Guest, Dr. M. R. Ravi, IAS, Commissioner for Textiles, Government of Karnataka as Guest of Honour and Mr. Amir Sheikh, Senior Consultant, Gherzi Consulting Engineers P. Ltd as Key Note Speaker. It was graced by Mr. T. K. Sengupta, National President, TAI, Mr. Vilas Gharat, President, TAI Mumbai Unit, Mr. V. C. Gupte, Chairman, TAI Mumbai Unit, Mr. G. V. Aras, Conference Chairman, Mr. T. K. Chandra, Conference Adviser and Mr. A. V. Mantri, Hon. Secretary, TAI Mumbai Unit.

Mr. Vilas Gharat, President, TAI Mumbai Unit, welcomed the Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay Jain, President, CITI, Guest of Honour Dr. M. R. Ravi, IAS, the Commissioner for Textiles, Government of Karnataka and the Key-Note Speaker, Mr. Amir Sheikh, Senior Consultant, Gherzi Consulting Engineers P.Ltd, Speakers, sponsors and the delegates.

Guest of Honour Dr. M. R. Ravi, IAS, Commissioner for Textile Development & Director of Handlooms & Textiles Department, Government of Karnataka addressing the gathering.

Mr. V. C. Gupte, Chairman TAI and the Conference Convener briefed the retrospects of the conference held in March 2018 as preamble to the current edition of conference on the topic.

He reiterated that the earlier version of our conference was to introduce the subject Textile: 4.0 and its relevance to the enhancement of competitiveness from the global perspectives. It also brought home to address some of the key challenges in terms of gaps, technology upgradation; use of IT enabled tools and robotics. His retrospects set the tone of the Conference.

Mr. G. V. Aras, Chairman of the Conference briefed the coverage of the deliberations programmed in the current version. He emphasized that the topics are so chosen that the entire supply chain starting from spinning, weaving, knitting garmenting and processing would be deliberated upon in the context of Textile 4.0. He also reiterated that the expert speakers have been requested to collate with the Indian Textile industry with similar case studies of other developed/developing countries.

Mr. Amir Sheikh, in his Key Note Ad-

Key Note Speaker Mr. Amir Sheikh, Senior Consultant, Gherzi Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. addressing the gathering. dress briefed the context of global competitiveness interalia Textile 4.0.

He emphasized that the automation, use of internet, robotics and artificial intelligence are key factors to prudently managing the manufacturing processes to achieve higher productivity and quality of the out puts. There is necessity of synergising the machines with artificial intelligence and as such the production machines should comply with the theology of Industry 4.0 or Textile 4.0.

NCM-MARCH 2019 81

Dr. M. R. Ravi, Guest of Honour for the event highlighted the importance technological advancement and its interface with the industry and policy makers to achieve the envisaged goals of achieving international norms of productivity and quality.

TAI Mumbai Unit has set has set a precedent of felicitating every year, the textile professionals for their outstanding contribution and who have achieved land mark in their journey in

NEWS BRIEFS Textile Industry. Mr. Suresh Kotak, Chairman, Kotak & Co. Ltd was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Kotak contributed to Indian cotton Textile Industry over five decades in various capacities and contributed in the area of formulation of policies significantly.

Mr. Rahul N. Mehta, Managing Director, Creative Casualwear Pvt. Ltd. was honoured with the Industrial Excellence Award. Mr. Mehta has long distinguished career & contribution in the garment industry. His outstanding performance in terms of creativity and professional management in the garment manufacturing is recognised all over the country, he is also a trainer and motivator. The awards were given by the Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour. The entire gathering greeted the awardees with standing ovation and applauds.

Mr. Suresh A. Kotak, Chairman, Kotak & Co. Ltd. receiving The Lifetime Achievement Award by the hands of Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay K. Jain

Mr. Sanjay Jain, Chief Guest of the function spoke the relevance of the theme of the conference and opined that TAI Mumbai Unit and CITI could jointly organise similar events in different Textile Clusters to promote the Textile 4.0 across the nation.

Mr. Mantri proposed vote of thanks to all the dignitaries and participants for having attended the conference. Further, he also thanked the sponsors, supporters and all those who have contributed significantly for the success of the event.

The first Technical Session-I covered the theme - ‘Textile 4.0- Implementation’. During this session, four papers were presented. Mr. Stefan Winter, Product Manager, Karl Meyer Digital Factory, GmbH presented on” KM.ON - Karle Meyer Digital Solutions”. He said the IT enabled system developed

by Karl Meyer is made up of eight KM.ON solution categories together.

The first apps and solutions cover the three areas of management, maintenance and Service. The three areas are K. Management which enables customer to look at the current production process, regardless of location and in real time. The production

Release of Book of Papers data is displayed on the dashboard.

This helps in terms of process transparency by delivering the information and also supports decision making and planning with the valid database.

Likewise, K. Maintenance supports customers in their own maintenance operation. The third category included K. Service is global and helps its customer to link with Karl Meyer. The remaining categories are being developed to support the digital factory of Karl Meyer.

Mr. Jurgan Hanel, Head of Technology NCM-MARCH 2019 82

Technical Textiles, A. Monfor ts Textilmaschonen GmbH & Co.KG presented a paper on “Textile Coating Under the influence of Internet of Things”. He initiated his talk with introduction to different types of coating machines viz; knife coating, Foam Coating and Roller Coating. Four modules of versatile coating machines including multifunctional, knife coating, rotary screen printing and magnetic roller coating were listed to address the Textile 4.0. Modular Coating “Montex Allround” having the features of Internet of things, Industry 4.0

NEWS BRIEFS Compliant, Fully automatic features along with artificial intelligence was presented. Further, an important finishing machine having automated control system that can facilitate compliance to Textile 4.0 was discussed in the context of Montex Allround coating machine features.

Mr. Samath Fernando, CIO, Hirdaramani Group & CEO, HONE Pvt Ltd, Sri Lanka presented a paper titled “RPA (Robotics Process Automation) and its impact to Apparel/Textile manufacturing Processes”. He discussed on use of robotics and modulation of the manufacturing processes and control of the process parameters in different stages of apparel manufacture. He stressed on control of process parameters to achieve higher productivity and quality in the apparel manufacture.

Mr. Rahul N. Mehta, Managing Director, Creative Casualwear Pvt. Ltd., receiving The Industrial Excellence Award by the hands of Chief Guest Mr. Sanjay K. Jain

Mr. Vikas Sharan, Director-India Operations, Saurer Textile Solutions Pvt Ltd., spoke on “Sustainability in Spinning through Innovation, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT)”.

He described the spinning system being supplied by Saurer with solutions for staple fibre processing from bale to yarn on sustainable management mechanism. He emphasized that the spinning systems address energy conservation, economics and ergonomics. Specifically, he illustrated the Carding machine - JSC 326, Zinser Speed Frame- 5A, Ring Spinning Frame -Zinser Impact -72 XL, Auto coner-ACX6 and Rotor Spinning system-Autocoro 9 having features to be Textile 4.0 compliant. The theology of his presentation was to reiterate developments of Saurer group to meet the challenges of Textile 4.0.

The Second Technical Session-II was devoted to the Implementation of Textile 4.0 in Garment Manufacturing.

Mr. Vikas Banduke, Vice President, Textile Engineering – Automation, A.T.E. Enterprises presented a paper on “How to make existing machines Compliant to Textile 4.0”. The paper attracted the attention of the gathering especially due to appropriate soNCM-MARCH 2019 83

NEWS BRIEFS lution to approach compliance to Textile 4.0. Microprocessors and Software systems which are ‘make specific’ call for replacement with the supply from the original manufacturer/supplier. M/ s A.T.E. have done inhouse R&D to replace with user friendly software incorporated to make the machines meet the requirement of the Textile 4.0.

Mr. Vikas Banduke presented different case studies wherein the approach has yielded positive results proving the point that installation of new machines with high capital is not the only solution for compliance to Textile 4.0.

Mr. Felix AK Pinto, Sales Director, South Asia, South East Asia and ANZ, X-Rite Incorporated presented a paper on “Next level of Virtualisation for Textile Industry, Total Appearance Capture from X-Rite”. He initiated his talk on the journey of X-Rite in assessment of appearance and colour on a substrate with special reference to textile fabrics. With advent of microprocessors and IT enabled software, the journey has been so fascinating that it is “simply seeing is believing”. As quality assurance and decision support system in colour management, he collated how these are compliant to Textile 4.0.

Mr. Ronnie Hagin, CEO, Datatex Group presented a paper titled “Industry 4.0- Textile Reality from buzz to opportunity”. He started his deliberation with the background of Datatex as a software development and facilitation organisation since 1987. Industry 4.0 encompasses the robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of things and interface with various types of manufacturing machines. Mechanization of the operations was the first step, while automation with IT enabled systems according to him has become a reality under the Industry Revolution Textile 4.0. Some of the case studies from different parts of globe wherin his company has been part was illustrated to bring home that Industry 4.0 or Textile 4.0 is a reality not simply a buzz word.

In the last Technical Session which

The Distinguished Audience

covered the Risk Management two papers were presented. First paper was pertaining to price fluctuation of cotton and its management and another paper was on fluctuation in dollar price and its management.

Mr. Badruddin Khan, Sr. Manager-Product Management Team, Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) presented a paper on “Cotton Price Risk Management”. He discussed the concept of ‘commodity exchange’ in the context of different types of commodity markets including spot markets, forward markets and future Trading. He emphasized on future trading as means to manage risk of price variation within a specific time period.

Transparency, security to the seller to contain with the price fluctuations, warehouse facilities, Hedging etc were illustrated with various examples based on the trading done under MCX. It was brought out that in addition to transparent system of Textile 4.0 using IT enabled Systems, MCX can be a better facilitator for trading of the commodity and manage risk especially the cotton which is a major raw material base for the textile manufacturing.

Mr. Sajal Gupta, Head- Forex & Rates, Edelweiss Securities Limited made a presentation on ‘Managing Forex Risk in Extreme Volatility’. He initiated his presentation with the impact of dollar NCM-MARCH 2019 84

fluctuation on the overall business operations either in export or import of goods. He introduced the concept of benchmarking through strategic price for the foreign currency. In order to contain with the currency fluctuation, he presented, Edelweiss Hedge Optimiser Model to the audience.

Available hedging tools for managing the forex risk especially during extreme volatility were presented. Business ethics through transparent management of forex risk, according to him is the acceptable solution even under extremely volatile market force conditions.

Concluding Remarks The conference was well received with attendance of over 350 participants.

The cross section of participation was Pan-India. The participants opined that the theme of the international conference was quite opt and time tested for moving forward to address challenges under Textile 4.0. In this pursuit, the conference organised by TAI Mumbai Unit presented the perspectives of industry 4.0 including the international opinion, Technology, Raw material base with stringent quality requirements for automated manufacturing technology and machine design and assembly with Software enabled operations to achieve the high quality, productivity and the future consumer demand.

NEWS BRIEFS Grasim Acquires Soktas India

LABORATORY First ISO 9001: 2008 Lab in Ahmedabad

Grasim Industries Limited (“Grasim”) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity shareholding of Soktas India Private Limited (“SIPL”), from its current promoters, for an enterprise value of Rs.165 crore, subject to net debt and working capital adjustments, as of the closing date. The transaction will be funded by the company primarily out of internal accruals. SIPL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Grasim upon completion of the transaction.

For Your Yarn, Fabric, Garment, Dyes, Chemicals & Auxilliaries Testing needs.

SIPL is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of SÖKTAS Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., world renowned producer and marketer of fabrics, with its main facilities in Soke, Turkey. Soktas India a state of the art production facility exclusively producing shirting fabrics - was opened in 2008 to bring the best of European fashion to the Indian market.

Their production centre is located in Kolhapur, augmented by a design showroom in Bangalore.

A/309, Ghantakaran Market, B/s. New Cloth Market, Sarangpur, Ahmedabad-380002.

Ph. : (O) 22142128 (M) 98247 39293 E-mail : jyotilab4010@rediffmail.com

SIPL is in the business of manufacturing and the distribution of premium cotton fabrics. Its plant capacity is about 10 million metres per annum of finished fabric. SIPL sells premium fabrics in India under the ‘SÖKTAS’, ‘Giza House’ and ‘Excellence by SÖKTAS’ brands. The company is also a preferred supplier to leading Indian and global menswear brands. In fiscal March 2018, SIPL reported revenue and EBITDA of Rs.186 crore and Rs.31 crore respectively.

Says Thomas Varghese, Business Head – Textiles, Aditya Birla Group, “The acquisition is in line with Grasim’s linen business strategy to strengthen its presence in the premium fabric market. Increasing disposable income, fashion and quality orientation of Indian consumers has resulted in an increase in the demand for premium fabric over the years. This acquisition is a compelling strategic fit, and further strengthens our leadership in the premium cotton and linen fabric market in India.”

Grasim has a significant presence in India’s premium linen fabric market, through its leading brand ‘Linen Club’.

Rakumi Syoji Co., Ltd. We are specialty in making fabrics and accesories for curtain.

Exporting to: EU, USA, Russia.

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Under the Blanket, Black is as good as White!

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NEWS BRIEFS Trends In fabric production: (Contd. from Page) Fabric exports and Imports: The Indian fabric industry continues to cater primarily to the domestic requirements with fabric exports (excluding the supplies to apparel exporters) accounting for only -6% of the domestic production as against a much higher proportion of exports in other segments of the textile value chain like cotton yarn and apparels. Large domestic requirements, limited growth in production levels and low share of high - quality fabric,given the fragmented nature of the industry and old vintage of the machinery, explain the continued low share of fabric exports from India. Nevertheless, despite the low share of fabric exports with respect to production, the share of the fabric segment in Indias' total textile exports continues to be higher at-12%.

Similar to exports, India's fabric imports also account for only 2% of the domestic production. Nevertheless, the industry has been challenged by a spurt in fabric imports post the transition to the GST regime. The imports of cotton-based and man· madefibre based woven fabric stood higher by 27% and 34% respectively during FY 2018. While the government has thereafter taken a corrective measure, whereby import duty on key types of fabrics was doubled to 20% in August 2018, fabric imports continue to increase at a high rate. The pace of growth,however,moderated to -15% YoY between September and December 2018 vis-a-vis 49% YoY growth between April and August 2018.

Financial performance: In contrast to the industry production trends, the aggregate performance of 12 large fabric manufacturers in ICRA's sample has remained weak during the past nine quarters. The pressures on performance started with the demoneti sation drive in Q3

ORDNANCE CLOTHING FACTORY (Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India) Avadi, Chennai-600 054 Phone 044-26365000 Fax & 044-26381701 REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Ordnance Clothing Factory Avadi is one of the largest Garment Industries, Under Ministry of Denfence, Govt. of India, setup in 1961, exclusively for manufacturing the entire range of uniforms to cater to the needs of Armed Forces of India.

As far as infrastructure facilities are concer ned, OCFAV is equipped with most modern, State-of-the-art Machineries and NABL accredited Textile Testing Laboratory and deployed with more then 2000 employees. This facilities OCFAV to manufacture highest quality garments in large quantity in shorter period of time. To make use of these unique facilities we invite the attention of ‘‘Garment Buying Houses".

As part of product Diversification Program, we have developed most advanced version of BR Vest and Splinter Resistant Jacket. These products too are open for civilian markets. The most highlighted point to be mentioned here is that our R&D department which was engaged in design and development of troop-comfortable uniforms of armed forces are now readily available for civilian customers to meet their Products Development requirements with highest degree of perfection.

Expression of Interest is invited from interested parties along with supporting documents for registration. For further details you may contact on the following Telephone.

Phone 044-26365000 Fax 044-26381701.

E-mail- ocfav.ofb@nic.in (P. SENTHILKUMAR) JOINT GENERAL MANAGER

davp/10201/11/0057/1819 FY 2017 and intensified during the transition to the GST regime. Thereafter, while the overall fabric production in the country is reported to have grown at a healthy pace, the growth in aggregate revenues of ICRA's sample remained tepid. In fact, the aggregate revenues in Q3 FY 2019 remained close to the five-year average quarterly revenues, despite raw material prices being significantly higher. Hence,the implied sales volumes of ICRA's sample in 9 M FY 2019 are es timated to have remained lo wer than the five-year a verage.

The weakness in sales coupled with high cotton yarn prices over the past four quarters has brought the profitability of fabric manufacturers under pressure. As a result,the aggregate operating margins of ICRA's sample NCM-MARCH 2019 86

declined to 8.0% in Q2 FY2019 and further to 7.6% in Q3 FY2019, compared to the level of 11-12% during the pre-demonetisation period.

Even though doubts on the production metrics reported by the sector remain, possibility of an inventory build-up cann ot be ruled out given the sgi nificant gap between industry-wide production tra jectory and implied trend in sale volumes of ICRA's sample. This could have in turn increased the dependence upon debt, in turn explaining the movement in interest cover, which declined to 2 times in 9M FY2019 from 2.4 times in FY2018.

Outlook: Not withstanding the multiple challenges faced by the Indian weaving

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

Albert Einstein

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NEWS BRIEFS industry in the recent past,the growth in fabric demand and hence production over the long term is expected to remain steady. This is expected to be driven by growth in the end-user industries of apparels and home textiles,which in turn would stand to benefit from India's large population base, rising disposable incomes, increasing share of organised retail and also the export opportunities. Within the highly fragmented weavnig sector, the players in the organised segments are likely to outperform th e overall growth in the sector. For the unorganised segment, the small scale and obs oles cence of the machinery remain the primary con straining factors which have impacted the productivity of the sector and quality of the fabric manufactured.

Modernisation and increase in the scale of operations would be critical to improve productivity, quality and cost competitiveness of the domestic fabric, which, besides improving the direct fabric export opportunities, would also improve the availability of quality fabric at competitive prices for the domestic consuming industries and help them increase their share in global exports. (Courtesy: ICRA)

Tamilnadu Announces New Integrated Textile Policy 2019 Tamilnadu has a strong presence in textiles and the second largest contributor to the Indian Textiles Industry and predominantly cotton based. The State marks its overwhelming presence in all the sub sectors of the industry viz., Spinning, Handloom weaving, Power loom weaving, Processing, Knitwear, Apparel and Garmenting. Some of the textile products from Tamilnadu which are universally recognised for the excellent craftsmanship and their uniqueness are Kancheepuram Silk Sarees, Bhavani Carpet (Jamukalam), Madurai Sungadi Sarees, Coimbatore Kora Sarees, Paramakudi Sarees, Sa-

lem Silk Dhoties, Erode and Karur Home Textiles, Tiruppur Knitwear Garments, etc. Tamilnadu acts as the hub of textile exports from the country viz., Tiruppur for Knitwear Garments, Coimbatore for Yarn, Karur for Home Textiles and Chennai for Woven Garment exports.

The State accounts for 19% of the Nation's Textile output with a robust network of all the sub-sectors of the Textile industry. Tamilnadu is the leading State in the Country in Textile sector with 46% of Spinning capacity, 60% of yarn export, 20% of Power loom capacity, 12% of Handloom capacity, 70% of Cotton Fabric Knitting capacity, 20% TUFs investments, direct employment to around 31 lakh people, more than Rs. 50,000 cr exports and 1/3 of textile business in the country.

Tamil lnadu's Spinning Sector possess 60% of Spinning Mills in the Country and holds the number one position. Still, many of the Spinning Mills in the State are functioning with obsolete machinery and are not equipped with State-of-the¡ar t technology.This is evident from the fact that the Spindle capacity of the State is only 46% and similarly, 35% of yarn is produced as against 60% of Spinning Mills in Tami lnadu.The cotton based Spinning Sector of the State is also now shifting attention to Man Made Synthetic Filament Yarn.

To help continue the growth, 2% Interest Subvention for investments on Technological Upgradation and NCM-MARCH 2019 88

Modernization in existing Spinning Mills will be provided for spinning sector under this policy with a vintage period of minimum 15 years on installed machinery.

Handloom Sector Tamilnadu has the pride for its unique Handloom products like Silk Sarees, Cotton Sarees, Dhoties, Lungies, Towels, Furnishing Materials, etc. There are 21.46 lakh handlooms in India, of which 1.89 lakh handlooms are in the State providing employment to around 3.19 lakh handloom weavers.

Tamilnadu occupies third position in the country in terms of number of handlooms installed and in production.

The following facilities will be extended to handloom sector: 1) Production of Sarees and Dhoties under Cost Free Distribution of Sarees and Dhoties Scheme and production of Uniforms Cloth Varieties under Free Supply of Uniforms to School Children, to provide continuous employment to people and pupils of Tamilnadu; 2) Scheme for Free Supply of Electricity to Handloom Weavers households @ 200 units bi-monthly to weavers’ households; 3) Savings and Security Scheme with State contribution of 8 paise per rupee of wage earned by the co-operative handloom weavers, to encourage the savings habit; 4) Family Pension Scheme (Rs.1,000/ month for the nominee of the co-operative handloom weaver, deceased before attaining the age of 60 years;

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NEWS BRIEFS 5) Old Age Pension Scheme of Rs.1,000/- per month for the cooperative handloom weavers on attaining the age of 60 years;

Societies will be enhanced from the present 4% to 6% to reduce the interest burden of the Handloom Weavers Co-operative Societies;

6) Handloom Support Programme to support innovation and product diversiication in the handloom sector, with an allocation of Rs.40 crore;

16) To promote the sale of handloom cloth, increase of Rebate Subsidy Scheme allocation for co-operative sector from Rs.80 to Rs.150 cr/yr;

7) Life Insurance Scheme, under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana (MGBBY) for the handloom weavers and ancillary workers;

17) Design Development, Products Diversi ication and introduction of new products based on other raw materials like Tussar Silk, Linen, Jute, etc., will be focused to cater to the needs of the market trends and demands;

8) To provide credit assistance to the handloom weavers under Weaver MUDRA Scheme of the Government of India;

18) To train, retrain and upgrade the weavers' skill, multi-level training in weaving, design development and processing including dyeing will be provided by dovetailing funds under Skill Upgradation Schemes from Tamilnadu Skill Development Mission;

9) Providing infrastructural facilities for the handloom clusters though Cluster Development Programmes under National Handloom Development Programme of the Government of India; 10) Hank Yarn Obligation to ensure availability of hank yarn to handloom weavers. Transport Subsidy, Depot Expenses and Hank Yarn Price Subsidy to handloom weavers on the purchase of hank yarn and silk yarn under Yarn Supply Scheme of the Government of India; 11) To protect the heritage of handloom varieties, support will be provided to register handloom varieties under the Geographical Indication Act, 1999; 12) Steps will be taken to register traditional products such as Thirubuvanam Sarees, Koorainadu Sarees, Kodalikaruppur Sarees and other suitable products under the Geographical Indication Act, 1999, to protect the heritage and weaving craftsmanship; consumers aware of genuine handloom products from fake ones through “Handloom Mark”, “Silk Mark” and “India Handloom Brand”; 14) The Government will focus on Weaver Centric Programmes and schemes beneitting both co-operative fold and outside co-operative fold weavers; 15) Interest Subsidy for Primary Handloom Weavers Co-operative

19) With an objective to develop the silk handloom industry, a Special Rebate for Silk will be provided to market handloom silk products of the cooperatives; 20) The State will encourage setting up of Silk Parks in prominent silk clusters viz., Kancheepuram, Salem, Arni and Thirubuvanam; 21) e-Marketing will be encouraged to expand the marketing opportunities of handloom products; 22) Handloom Census will be undertaken at regular intervals, in coordination with the Government of India, so as to formulate a suitable policy and devise need based programmes; 23) Credit support to handloom weavers will be provided for Production and Marketing, dovetailing funds from Government of India Schemes and NABARD.

Powerloom Sector Tamilnadu holds the second position in the country in terms of number of power looms installed. There are about 24.86 lakh registered power looms in India, of which, Tamilnadu has 5.63 lakh power looms with 10.19 lakh workforce. The State has 212 Power loom Weavers Co-operative Societies and these Societies are proNCM-MARCH 2019 90

ducing cloth required for the Cost Free Distribution of Sarees and Dhoties Scheme and the Scheme of Free Supply of Uniforms to School Children. The Ready-made Garments and Home Textiles sector, which are mainly focusing on international market are highly dependent on the Powerloom sector to meet their fabric requirement.

The following assistances are provided by the Government for the development of the Power loom sector: 1) Scheme for Free Supply of Electricity to Power loom Weavers @ 750 units bi-monthly for about 1.06 lakh Power loom units and Concessional power tariff to Power loom sector; 2) Production of Sarees and Dhoties under Cost Free Distribution of Sarees and Dhoties Scheme and production of Uniforms Cloth Varieties under Scheme of Free Supply of Uniforms to School Children to provide continuous employment to power loom weavers in co-operative fold and to fulill the clothing needs of the people and pupils of Tamilnadu; 3) 10% Credit Linked Capital Investment Subsidy for Power loom sector for investments on brand new shuttle-less looms under Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS); 4) To provide a world class infrastructure to integrate production chain, to fulill the business needs, to boost production and export, to overcome the bottlenecks in infrastructure and common facilities in brownield clusters, subsidy of 60% of the project cost with maximum ceiling upto Rs.50 crore under Modiied Comprehensive Power loom Cluster Development Scheme (MCPCDS) of the Government of India; 5) Insurance cover to the power loom workers under Universal Insurance Coverage Scheme of the Government of India with coverage of Rs.1,00,000/- to Rs.4,00,000/-; 6) 75% of the cost subject to the ceiling of Rs. 10,000/- per person under Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS);

NEWS BRIEFS 7) Financial assistance such as life insurance cover, marriage assistance, educational assistance, maternity assistance, assistance for purchase of spectacles and pensionary beneit through the Tamilnadu Powerloom Weaving Workers' Welfare Board; 8) The State Government will continue to implement the Central schemes for the welfare and development of the power loom sector as a whole; 9) Implementation of PowerTex India, a Comprehensive Scheme for Power loom Sector Development launched by the GoI. 10) The Government of Tamilnadu will provide 10% additional Capital Subsidy, subject to Rs.4 lakh per loom for purchase of brand new shuttleless looms under ATUFS; 11) The Government of India is providing 10% Capital Subsidy for promoting brand new preparatory machines. The State Government will provide additional 10% Capital Subsidy subject to a ceiling of Rs.30 lakh per unit (2 Units of Warping Machines & 1 Unit of Sizing Machine); 12) The Government of India is providing 50% Capital Subsidy for in-situ upgradation of Plain looms to Semi Automatic Shuttle Looms, Semi Automatic Shuttle Looms to Shuttleless Rapier Looms, Plain Looms to Shuttleless Rapier Looms under PowerTex India. The State Government will also provide 10% additional capital subsidy under this scheme; export by creating world class infrastructure, 9% of project cost, with a maximum ceiling of Rs.9 crore will be provided as State grant similar to the grants provided under Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) under Modi ied Comprehensive Power loom Cluster Development Scheme (MCPCDS); 14) One Time Assistance of 25% of the project cost, with a ceiling of Rs.10 crore for setting up of Trade Facilitation Centre on PPP model will be provided, if encumbrance free land is available with the industry; 15) Power loom Census will be undertaken at regular intervals, in coordination with the GoI, so as to formulate a suitable policy and devise need based programmes;

Processing Sector:

Knitting, Apparel & Garmenting

There are 2614 Hand Processing Units (25% of total units in India) and 985 Power Processing units in Tamilnadu. The Government will focus on setting up of CETPs with ZLD facility in Textile Clusters both in the form of setting up of Green Field Textile Processing Parks with CETP and also setting up CETPs alone by interlinking existing dyeing units, to arrest pollution and to ensure environmental protection.

This sector is the final stage of the textile value chain and maximum value-addition takes place at this stage. Tiruppur is the biggest knitting cluster in India contributing 45% of total knitwear exports (>90% cotton based garments). It employs 6 lakh persons directly in more than 6000 Knitting and Garmenting units.

Tiruppur accounts for Rs.10,000 cr domestic turnover and over Rs.25,000 cr in exports per annum. Chennai is also a major RMG Cluster.

1) 10% Credit Linked Capital Investment Subsidy for Processing sector under the ATUFS; 2) Financial assistance of 50% of the project cost, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.75.00 crore per project by the GoI for establishment of Processing Parks under Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS). In addition, State Government financial assistance upto 25% of project cost, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.37.50 crore per project; 3) Under Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) for the establishment of Processing Parks, interest subvention of 5% will be provided for the credit availed towards 25% contribution of SPV; 5) Financial assistance in the form of 10% Capital Subsidy, with a ceiling of Rs.20 lakh per machine will be provided on purchase of Wider Width Fabric Printing Machines; 6) Financial assistance to create necessary infrastructural support - for promoting Erode as Textile Processing Printing Centre- will be provided; 7) Assistance of 15% Capital Subsidy will be provided for setting up of Efluent Treatment Plants (ETPs)/ Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage and Disposable Facility (HWTSDF) with ZLD, subject to a maximum subsidy of Rs.5 crore; 8) Support will be provided for R&D on PPP mode for efficient effluent management and for minimizing operational cost of CETPs and IETPs; 9) Processing Cluster will be promoted in Ramanathapuram district with Financial assistance under the IPDS.

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Incentives offered include: 1) 40% ofthe Project Cost, limiting to Rs.40 crore for setting up of Textile Parks. An additional grant upto Rs.10 crore per Park by the GoI for setting up of additional infrastructure including factory buildings; 2) 15% Credit Linked Capital Investment Subsidy (CIS) for investments in Garmenting sector under GoI's ATUFS. An additional 10% CIS to Garmenting units for benchmarked eligible machinery; 3) Implementation of GoI's Scheme for Production and Employment Linked Support for Garmenting Units; 4) Reduction in number of working days from 240 to 150 under section 80JJAA of Income Tax Act; 5) GoI will bear the entire 12% of Employee PF Scheme contribution of employer. Flexibility in Labour Laws to increase productivity; 6) For setting up of New Training Centres for Apparel and Textiles linked with ITIs, 25% Subsidy for machinery purchased, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.20 lakh per Centre will be given through Tamilnadu Skill Development Agency; 7) Assistance for setting up of Trainingcum-Production Centres at potential clusters.

There are host of other incentives for technical textiles and for infrastructure related investments. Also, for labour welfare activities and for training/skill development initiatives. To acheive ZLD, investments in CETPs and IETPs would be rewarded suitably.

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