TexTech

Innovate or Emulate

Indian industry could breathe a sigh of relief when the Budget revealed a bonanza for it in many a way. The allocation for the textile sector for year 2022-23 in the Union Budget presented on February 1 by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stands at about ₹12,382.14 crore, which is about 8.1 per cent higher than the revised Budget allocation of 2021-22 of ₹11,449.32 crore Budget allocation during 2021. Infrastructure has got a big push and the industry welcomed setting up of seven mega textiles parks. Private industry will be encouraged to take up military equipment designing in collaboration with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, which will give a boost to technical textiles. One can call the year 2022 as a watershed year since the industry is at crossroads. Now the only way to consolidate its position in the global market is to take the path to innovation. If one sees the way the industry has wriggled out of the Covid crisis, all are of the unanimous opinion that the best is near at hand. Already, it is out of the tunnel and basking in the warmth of good gestures through the Budget by the Government. One main plank no doubt is the Innovation, which is the answer to all its ills and stagnation. Innovate all the way to success is the only mantra to capture the global market in textiles. It can take a leaf out of the Cematex conviction that Innovation is the heartbeat of transformation: Start-Up Valley, a new initiative by CEMATEX, spotlights companies in its early stages of development with new and game changing solutions and technologies to support and inspire innovation for the textile, garment and fashion industry. Transformation is more critical than ever. What is needed are cutting-edge developments from research and educational institutes, and the industry. An exemplary move by the Cematex is the Research & Innovation Lab which will be the ideal platform for research and educational organisations, and the industry to showcase the latest exciting developments as well as to collaborate with top brands and like-minded businesses from around the world.

Make in India can create 60 lakh new jobs, says the Indian Government. Self-reliance in textile technologies is an important step, among other measures to achieve it. Indian yarn has received many accolades. The fabric and garment sectors are not far behind. And if the technologies also lift all these segments with innovation, there’s nothing like it. Innovate or emulate or collaborate, to realise these, the mindset must change. Industries in India have done the impossible all their way to glory. And why not this traditional industry of textiles in the land of talents and capability to surmount all the odds and win its share of glories.

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COVER STORY

BONANZA MAKES INDUSTRY SMILE

TVC Editorial Team

NIRMALA SITHARAMAN

Finance Minister of India

About 8.1% higher allocation, Rs 134-cr allocation for Cluster Development Scheme, and a big push to Infrastructure are some of the bold steps taken in the Budget for 2022-23 that have made the industry smile with satisfaction.

The allocation for the textile sector for year 2022-23 in the Union Budget presented on February 1 by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stands at about ₹12,382.14 crore, which is about 8.1 per cent higher than the revised budget allocation of 2021-22 which stands at about ₹11,449.32 crore. Budget allocation during 2021-22 initially was ₹3,631.64 crore, but it was later revised to ₹11,449.32 crore mainly due to increased allocation for procurement of cotton by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) under ‘Price Support Scheme’ from ₹136 crore initially to ₹8,439.88 crore. For financial year 2022-23, the allocation is ₹9,243.09 crore, which is about 9.5 per cent higher than revised allocation of last year. In the present Budget, the government has allocated about ₹133.83 crore for Textile Cluster Development Scheme, and hence the total budget allocation for Research and Capacity Building in textiles increased by 73.4 per cent to reach about ₹478.83 crore in 2022-23, as compared to revised budget allocation of ₹276.10 crore in 2021-22. The recently announced Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme also saw an allocation of ₹15 crore each for 2022-23.

The government has also allocated ₹105 crore for the year 2022-23 towards Raw Material Supply Scheme, which has already been approved for implementation during period from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The main increase is for cotton procurement by Cotton Corporation of India under the price support scheme. The Cotton Corporation will see allocation of ₹9,243 crore for the next financial year as against ₹8,440 crore in the revised budget allocation for the current year. This is for the committed liability of the government to the Corporation, said an official. On duties levied, with no changes in the 10% import duty on cotton, the industry’s expectation of

measures to control cotton prices, which is the raw material, was not met. Trimmings, embellishments, labels and the like that attract 5% import duty will now be available as duty-free imports for exporters of textiles and leather garments. But it seems made-ups and home textiles have been excluded from the duty-free import of trimmings, etc. At present, machinery such as for knitting and weaving machines are included in the list of machines having Concessional Custom Duty of 5%. All these machines will attract 7.5% import duty. Industry sources said customs duty includes the ad valorem tax and specific duty. The specific duty is likely to be rationalised for certain fabric items and removed for some of the garments. The industry welcomed setting up of seven mega textiles parks under MITRA, and duty reduction on nylon raw materials. However, the levy of 10% import duty on cotton saw mixed reactions. The Budget also puts emphasis on infrastructure development and research & capacity building as the grant for these sectors has been increased by about 43.7% and 77.5%, respectively, compared to last year. The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) the apex association of the apparel industry of the country has welcomed the Union Budget as positive and growth oriented for the Apparel Industry. Mr Rakesh Biyani, President, CMAI said that the most important step in this Budget for the Textile Industry was the removal of the Anti-dumping duty on PTA, which was a long-standing demand of the Textile Manufacturing Value Chain, as PTA is a crucial input for polyester production. This will potentially open up the MMF Value Chain, and give a fillip to the entire MMF industry and enhance its global competitiveness. Technical Textiles, Home Furnishing, Sportswear Industry, Sarees, Dress Materials etc., will all benefit greatly from this move. This move has the potential of being an important game changer for the MMF segment of the industry. Mr Biyani further stated that other than this, there are several other measures which could benefit the Textile Industry, but which appear to be work in progress at this point of time – such as the Technical Textile Mission, a review of the Rules of Origin especially in our FTAs, a review of cheap imports of goods being made by our MSME Sector, refund of all the Taxes and Levies for Exports, and the targeting of making every District an Export hub. The proposed financing of Invoices of the MSME Sector could again be a huge benefit to the industry, which is largely comprised of the MSME Units. If indeed all these plans fructify as per the stated goals and objectives, this could be a landmark Budget for the Industry. This year’s Budget allocates Rs 700 crore for Amended Technology Upgradation Scheme (ATUFs) against Rs 545 crore in the last one, which will help clear the pending capital subsidy. It earmarks Rs 30 crore for Export Promotion Studies against Rs 5 crore in the last Budget, and Rs 100 crore for Integrated Scheme for Skill Development. “With the active support and cooperation of the government, the textile industry will become globally competitive, attract large investments and boost employment generation and exports in the years ahead,” the Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (NITMA) President Sanjay Garg said. “Basic customs duty (BCD) rates on caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fibre and yarn will be uniformly reduced to 5% to spur textile industry, MSMEs, and exports,” he said. “The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibres and technical textiles with a total outlay of Rs10,683 crore will help the textile industry become globally competitive, attract large investments and boost employment generation. Moreover, to achieve the target of $350 billion from the current size of $167 billion, our manufacturing sector has to grow in double digits on a sustained

basis. Our manufacturing companies need to become an integral part of global supply chains, possess core competence and cutting-edge technology,” CITI chairman Rajkumar said. He added that the reduction in customs duty on caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fibre and yarn to 5 % is a step in the right direction, as it will bring nylon chain on a par with polyester and other man-made fibres. The associations appealed to the Prime Minister to immediately withdraw the levy of 10% import duty on cotton and cotton waste to sustain the global competition, prevent job losses and fall in the exports and also curb cheaper imports of value-added products from the SAFTA countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. Earlier, The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India - CMAI - wholeheartedly welcomed the decision taken at the GST Council’s meeting to defer the proposed increase of GST Rate from 5% to 12% on all items of textiles and garments. CMAI has been continuously raising its voice against the proposed increase especially on Garments, and especially at a time when the industry is reeling under one of the most severe cost increases in recent years, and is

just about struggling to emerge out of the effects of the Covid pandemic. Rajesh Masand, President, said “During the last couple of months we have met and explained our viewpoints to almost all the Central and State Finance Ministers, and we are extremely grateful that they have accepted our concerns and decided to defer the proposed increase”. “Our grateful thanks in particular to the Union Minister of Finance, Ms Nirmala Sitharamanji, for her understanding of the disastrous impact on the industry if this increase had come through, and supporting the decision to defer it in the Council Meeting” he added. Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor and Past President thanked the Hon. Minister of Textiles Mr Piyush Goyal and the Minister of State for Textiles Ms Darshanaben Jardosh, and the Textile Ministry, for their strong support to the cause of the industry. “Without their support, this decision would not have been possible, and our sincere thanks to them”. President Masand also thanked the Trade Associations across the country who got the voice of lakhs of Manufacturers and Retailers to be heard by the Government.

However, CMAI has cautioned that the decision to increase the Rates has only been postponed to the next Council Meeting, and reiterated their resolve to continue partnering with the Government on all issues such that win-win solutions emerge on all issues faced by the industry.

COVER STORY HIGHLIGHTS UNION BUDGET – 2022/23

MR. N.D. MHATRE

Director General (Tech.) ITAMMA

• Action on climate and transition to clean energy as part of a national master plan that will also lead to logistics efficiency (195 billion rupees production-linked incentives for solar modules.) {Solar infrastructure Projects in Textile Mills are encouraged} • Gati Shakti - seamless building of infrastructure projects and improving ease of doing business (The budget allots 480 billion rupees for a housing plan, including affordable housing, in urban and rural areas) {Technical Textile stream for development of Sound proof fabrics, Furnishing/

Home Textiles, introduction of textile fibre composite grids for roof, etc needs to be focused} • India will expand highways by 25,000 kilometers {Scope for Geo-textiles, and fabrics for canopies along these highways for villagers to sale their local branded products and also for Petrol Pumps/

Electric charging stations} • India’s plan to become a Smartphone and electronics manufacturing base for the world, an alternative to China. (Duty concessions for some electronics manufacturer) {Efforts to be taken through start-ups for incorporation of Smart

Electronic items/gadgets on the existing textile

machines for upgrading their performance/automation} • Improvement of health infrastructure –is stagnant at around 2%, according to the Economic

Survey released this week (A national tele-mental health programme) {medical textiles can be promoted in these infrastructure}. • ‘Parvat Mala’ -- building roads and highways in India’s mountainous region stretching from north to north eastern India {scope for using Engineered textiles in the form of safety items like parachutes in emergency, safety apparels, etc} • DEVELOPMENT – AGRI- private partnership in ensuring farmers get access to new technologies in agriculture. {projects like Manufacturing of Banana fibre and its products, silk, wool, innovative textiles at fibre stage, organic farming, etc can be focused/undertaken} • “Drone as a service” ‘Drone Shakti” {Drones/flying Robots can be used to reach at places which are in-hygienic /very troublesome to access in textile departments like Wet-Processing/Spinning, etc, ITAMMA is on the process of using this technology for International Hybrid Delegation/

Technology Scouting Missions} • interlinking five rivers in central and northern India {The scope for Engineered Textiles for filter fabrics/Geo-textiles/Landscape fabrics, etc is developed} • Emergency credit guarantee for MSMEs is being expanded for the hospitality industry and extended until March 2023. {will definitely help MSMEs to come out of their expected debts and overcome the survival stage to growth} • Digital education in a big way. 200 TV and digital channels to support learning in Indian languages, a digital university {this arrangement can be made used to establish the Indian machine catalogues/ literature, etc. at the international platform thus helping the viewer/user to be more user-friendly with the content and thus may develop the scope of new markets} • three recently launched plans aimed at welfare of women {will be useful especially for Handloom/

Handicraft/Cottage Textile Industry where involvement of women on higher side} • Rs 60000CR in the budget to drinking water {scope for filter fabrics/recycled fibres for making glasses/bottles, etc} • proposes to start 400 new “Vande Bharat” trains in three years {Scope developed for the Engineered textiles utilized in the trains; furnishing/ bed-sheets/covers/, etc} • India’s post offices will be brought on core bank-

ing system for better financial inclusion (target of 150,000 post offices into digital financial transaction systems, (digital ecosystem) • Chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country. (Zero Budget Natural

Farming - the cost of growing and harvesting plants is zero, as no purchase of fertilizers and pesticides) {Lower duty on some chemicals} • India will use clean tech to improve public transport in urban areas (electric vehicles) {suburban railway networks, EV charging stations etc. will create demand for technical textiles} • task force for recognizing potential in the animation, visual effect, gaming sector to open up employment opportunities (may be exploited for textile designing field} • Private industry will be encouraged to take up military equipment designing in collaboration with India’s Defence Research and Development

Organisation (65% of the sector capex for local companies in the annual budget) {scope for Engineered textiles is developed} • digital rupee using blockchain technology by the central bank in 2022-23 boost India’s startup ecosystem (extends tax incentive for startups up to

March 2023) • Revokes anti dumping duty for some steel products (will help the Textile Engineering Industry} • Make in India can create 60 lakh new jobs, public issue of LIC is expected shortly.

ECONOMY UPDATE

Capex target expanded by 35.4 per cent — from Rs 5.54 lakh crore to Rs 7.50 lakh crore. FY23 effective capex seen at Rs 10.7 lakh crore India’s growth highest among all major economies; we are now in a strong position to withstand challenges The goal is complementing macro-growth with micro-all-inclusive welfare, digital economy and fintech, tech-enabled development, energy transition and climate action

ECLGS cover expanded by Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh crore

Top focus of the budget this year are: PM Gati Shakti, Inclusive Development, Productivity Enhancement, Sunrise Opportunities, Energy Transition, Climate Action, Financing of investments Productivity-linked incentive schemes in 14 sectors have received excellent response; received investment intentions worth Rs 30 lakh crore

Economic recovery benefitting from public investment and capital spending. This Budget will provide impetus to growth In 2022-23, states will be allowed fiscal deficit of up to 4 pc of GSDP Reference : The Economic Times

COVER STORY

BUILDING THE NATION WITH TEXTILES

Dr. Mohit Raina, Managing Director RAINA INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED.

India is a dream whose time has come. The development of New India and with a focus on self-reliance is the key to its growth story. The textile sector being a major contributor to the GDP of the country also stands aligned with offering its services for the growth of the nation, says Dr. Mohit Raina. Most recently, the Honorable Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget. Infrastructure spend of about Rs. 10 lakh crore in the Budget of 2022-23 will help propel the growth of the country as infrastructure acts as a growth multiplier. With the National Infrastructure Pipeline (2020-25) envisaging an investment of Rs 111 lakh crore, the target annual investment ranges between Rs 20-22 lakh crore. National highways will be expanded by 25,000 km during 2022 and the national ropeway development programme will be taken up in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. In spite of these investments, corrosion and dilapidation of these structures poses a severe threat to these developments. A study carried out R. Bhaskaran, N. Palaniswamy, and N.S. Rengaswamy published in the Corrosion Reviews 2009 evaluated the cost of corrosion in India to have escalated from 1960 to 1986 by 26-fold and the estimate was pegged at a value of Rs. 40760 million in 1986. Comparing annual cost of corrosion with GDP over the era of newly independent India from 1950-1990, corrosion contributed to about 5.95% the GDP of the country annually. With the growth in the infrastructure sector and the impetus given, we as a country need to make sure that in New India we apply advanced materials to resolve this challenge faced by our very own selves by learning from the past. One might wonder as to what the contribution of the textile community would be to this infrastructure growth. In fact, the textile industry is the only industry, which can help build a sustainable infrastructure by means of fibres, textiles conventionally known as technical textiles. If nature were to be taken as a benchmark, textile and fibrous structures are the ones which provide nature with

its sustainability. It is time that we seriously begin to learn from nature and create sustainable structure with fibres and textiles. The commonly known names like Buildtech, GeoTech and Marinetech are synonymous to sustainability in the infrastructure domain.

Currently, extensive amounts of steel reinforced concrete are being used for building structures all across India. A major challenge faced by steel reinforced concrete is the corrosion resistance of the steel in the coastal areas of India. India has a coastline of 7,517 km. The temperature in the coastal regions often exceeds 30°C (86°F), and is coupled with high levels of humidity. Annual rainfall in this region averages between 1,000 and 3,000 mm (39 and 120 in). These extreme climatic conditions have a great effect on the reinforced structures. Hence, the reinforced structures have to be replaced and restored after every couple of years. The textile component as a reinforcement provides the necessary high tensile strength in a concrete matrix. This leads to an appropriate load carrying capacity for applications in infrastructure. The reinforcement can be realised with short fibre or with long fibre textile structures.

The initial contributors comprised of short fibre, generally polypropylene, glass fibres, which were introduced into the concrete matrix. These short fibre reinforcements provide localised reinforcement but due to their random placement they reduce crack propagation in concrete and are not suitable as elements carrying loads. Research has been carried out to use long fibre/ filaments as structural reinforcement. Use of textiles and fibres can help the reduction of the concrete consumption by up to 80% and also reduction of steel by up to 75%. In addition to corrosion resistance the major advantages of textiles and fibres are their better performance characteristics in terms of their strength-weight ratio, durability, flexibility, insulating and absorption properties, and fire and heat resistance. Contribution in sectors such as roadways with soil reinforcement, embankment reinforcement, asphalt stability etc., railways with applications ranging from laying the track sleepers to making the railway coach and its interiors, bridges with applications like carbon fibre strengthening to glass fibre reinforcement are going to play a crucial role in building this country. This application will however not only need production, engineering but also formulation of building and construction IS Codes and guidelines for their successful applications. Cross-sectoral collaboration; within Ministries, certifying agencies, research institutes, engineers, operator, manufacturers and onsite contractors, is needed to facilitate this paradigm shift and transformation in India. India is a dream whose time has come and with the policies aligned towards building a sustainable country, fibres and textiles will definitely play their part.

www.textileappareljobs.com

NEWS TURKISH UPHOLSTERY LEADER

OPTS FOR MONTEX®COAT

Turkish powerhouse in home textiles and furnishing fabrics Altun Tekstil has just commissioned the first Montex®Coat coating system in Turkey. The advanced machine has been installed at the ever-expanding family-owned company’s industrial complex in Bursa and is being employed to provide an anti-slip and textured backing to upholstery fabrics with a stable and uniform foam, via knife-over-roller coating. Founded in 1993, Altun exports its fabrics to more than 60 countries, with its major export markets being Russia and Ukraine, as well as many Middle Eastern and European countries. Its integrated operations include the production of texturized yarns, weaving and raschel knitting, in addition to dyeing and finishing. With a major focus on tulle curtains and upholstery, the company’s fabric range also extends to a wide variety of apparel styles. “Despite the current market conditions, our investments continue to increase,” said company owner Murat Altun. “We have established both a knit and woven fabric dyehouse and an integrated upholstery fabric weaving factory, where in 2022 we will also backward integrate into synthetic filament spinning from chips. In the longer term, we plan to bring all of our operations together in a single facility of 350,000 square metres, to employ approximately 10,000 people. We have new investment targets that aim to further reduce our dependence on overseas suppliers and enable us to do everything within our own operations.” Altun has installed eight Monfongs stenters in various widths at its two plants since 2016 – coincidentally the year Monforts Turkish representative Neotek was founded. “We have worked with Neotek from the start and both its service and the product quality with Monforts technology are extremely satisfying,” said Plant Manager Mehmet Mor. All of the stenters are engineered for specific product lines and the Montex®Coat unit is integrated into the latest of these lines, which has a maximum working width of 2.2 metres and eight chambers. “With the Montex®Coat unit Altun is able to achieve an even foam application at high speed which results in a very economic process,” said Monforts Sales Manger Thomas Päffgen. The fully integrated line benefits from universal control technology and the unique Monforts visualisation system. The Montex®Coat’s bordering system has been optimised for enhanced user-friendliness, while the doctor blade adjustment range is the most precise available on the market.

Altun Plant Manager Mehmet Mor at the controls of the new machine. The fully integrated line benefits from the unique Monforts visualisation system.

The Montex®Coat unit enables an even foam application to be achieved at high speeds. The coater is installed at the front of the eighth Monfongs Montex stenter supplied to the company.

43% UPTURN FOR ITALIAN TEXTILE MACHINERY

The index of orders intake for Italian textile machinery for the fourth quarter of 2021, processed by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, showed a 43% upturn compared to the same period in 2020. In absolute terms, the index stood at 127.9 points (base 100 in 2015). This growth was spurred on by both the Italian and foreign markets. More specifically, domestic orders were up 83% compared to the period October-December 2020, for an absolute value of 234.6. Orders collected abroad grew by 36%, for an absolute index value equal to 116.4. On an annual basis, the index of orders intake increased by 95%, for an absolute value of 128 points. The increase in orders abroad was 79%, while orders collected for domestic market were up 204% compared to what was observed in 2020. Alessandro Zucchi, President of ACIMIT, commented the results of the survey: “We’re experiencing a recovery in the sector that we didn’t quite expect. Production has returned to pre-Covid levels, while foreign demand has been robust in most markets, and in Italy it has benefited from the Government Transition 4.0 incentives.” However, the many orders to be filled are now a cause for concern, given the

ALESSANDRO ZUCCHI ACIMIT

scarce availability of components and raw materials due to the interruption of supply chains. Added to this is the sharp rise in the cost of energy. Thus, 2022 is expected to be a year in which optimism and foreboding still prevail for the Italian textile machinery sector, pending ITMA 2023, the world’s most important textile machinery exhibition, scheduled to be held in Milan in June 2023. “The many registered Italian manufacturers are an important signal,” concludes ACIMIT’s President, adding that, “ITMA Milan will mark a definitive relaunching of the textile machinery sector, and will confirm Italy’s leadership in the field of textile technologies. This will be a must opportunity for all Italian businesses.”

NEWS

VANDEWIELE-SAVIO INDIA MERGER FINALISED

Vandewielen & Savio India announced that they had finalised the merging process, creating a global network for their customers. The two companies will operate under the new name of Vandewiele-Savio India Private Limited. “We are convinced that these joined forces provide a comprehensive network of integrated services that will better serve our customer’s needs for the Indian market”. This strategic alliance is set to immensely benefit the Indian textile industry, as the expertise from these two leading groups, offering complete weaving, winding, twisting solutions to the Indian customers, will give them a sustainable competitive advantage in their business.

About Vandewiele

Vandewiele builds carpet looms, velvet looms, jacquard machines and integrate innovative textile systems for flooring qualities, home linen, fashion fabrics and technical textiles. Sharing inspiration and expertise with our customers worldwide, we shape the textile industry of the future. Creating success for them all, from yarn to finished product. Our Research and Development department and test-engineers are continuously developing new applications. The innovative breakthroughs of Vandewiele give a boost to the textile industry.

About SAVIO

Over its 110+ years history, Savio acted as technological leader and most innovative player in attractive niches of the textile value chain. Savio leverages on the best value-for-money proposition in the industry. It has a consolidated presence in all relevant geographies with a local-for-local approach, allowing Savio to promptly address market demand and requirements. Savio is specialized in the textile machinery sector for the yarn finishing segment being the leading supplier of winding and twisting machines with manufacturing plants in Italy, China and India. Savio India, the advanced TFO manufacturing set up of Savio group in India, will continue to provide and ensure state of the art Customer Support and Spare Parts Services.

Vandewiele-Savio India Private Limited

The merger of the Group activities has resulted in a wide range of synergies in the service, care solutions and developments, with benefits for the customers. VANDEWIELE-SAVIO INDIA Is ready to provide the region with high class Textile machines with cost effectiveness and the best support.With its corporate office located at Coimbatore with a strength of about 250 people and sales and service offices at Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, Kolhapur and Thane covering the whole product range of the group .This will enforce the support and strength towards the company’s Indian customers and increase its customer centricity.

YARN ORDERS FOR NEXT 3 MONTHS LINED UP : JAYESH PATEL

INTERVIEW

Omax Cotspin Pvt. Ltd, located at Dhrangadhra, Gujarat, is one of the fastest growing textile companies in international markets with all the modern integrated facilities in 25 acres of land with 75000 spindle age capacity. Jayesh Patel, Director at Omax Cotspin, replied to a questionnaire sent by the Textile Value Chain. Excerpts:

What were the Challenges that you faced during the Pandemic? How did you handle them?

During the first wave of Covid-19, it was weak demand: we were feeling that demand has weakened across most of the industries due to weak consumer sentiment, job losses, and as consumers defer their non-discretionary purchases and focus on buying essential items. The supply chain disruptions: The curb on movement of people and non-essential goods has affected the supply chain, leading to shortage of raw materials. The coronavirus outbreak in major raw material supplying has affected due to movement of raw materials across the country. Labour/capacity underutilization: The exodus of unemployed migrant laborers to their native places has further added to the ongoing problems of industries. The worry remains whether they will return to work soon given their recent traumatic experience of job losses and travel hardships. The shortage of manpower and shorter duration of work hours have affected the capacity utilization of industries and there is no clear sign when normalcy will return due to the ongoing uncertainty about finding a cure for the pandemic. Workforce health and business in “New Normal”: Maintaining the health of workers in “New Normal” also remains a challenging task for industries in the absence of proper guidelines. They had to temporarily shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. ... For established companies, the challenges came from increased administrative bottlenecks, and issues with reduced logistics services and infrastructures, The complete lockdown and partial lockdowns had both demand-side and supply-side impacts on the manufacturing sector. On the supply side, the limited movement of goods, services, and personnel affected the production network. The situation improved gradually and confidence towards the business outlook for production rose as a phased reopening of the economy was announced. However, with this recovery and subsequent gradual reopening of the economy, the country succumbed to a second wave of the virus.

A second wave was witnessed towards the end of the 2020 financial year. The country’s optimistic recovery was thrust into further uncertainty as cases increased far more rapidly than the first wave. The fatality rate amongst individuals increased as several States introduced restrictions and curfews to mitigate the loss of life in the second wave. Healthcare infrastructure in the country faced a total collapse as citizens ran helter-skelter in search of beds, oxygen cylinders, and resources to survive the second wave. This widespread devastation further instilled fear amongst the citizens as new variants proved to be more potent leading to a mass breakout in the Tier I cities and a surge in the rural regions. This led to individuals being confined to their homes, more out of choice and fear. The number of people working during the second wave was much smaller as compared to those working during the first wave, which translated to slower economic recovery. With lockdowns slowly being reimposed, States allowed certain relaxations and permissions to keep the economic impact to a minimum. While the second wave is expected to upset economic growth, the overall impact is expected to be moderate as businesses and States have adjusted their businesses and cycles to the COVID situation prevalent. In the handling of pandemic corona, we ensured effective communication with employees. How leaders behave during critical moments leaves a lasting mark on their companies and people. Therefore, a consistent and effective communication and interaction with employees have strengthen the company and enhanced the culture. We shared the up-to-date and relevant information about COVID-19 symptoms and disease prevention recommendations among company employees. We used only credible sources of information, such as the World Health Organization. We have established a dedicated hotline or conduct a series of remote seminars with relevant health professionals to facilitate question and answer sessions with your employees. Besides, we provided a psychological and financial support to our employees, such as emergency assistance, additional insurance coverage, regular payroll payments. We focused on organising a safe work environment: purchase of medical equipment and supplies (e.g., thermometers, antibacterial products such as mask sanitizer), self-monitoring of employees’ health, and disinfection of workplaces. We developed and communicated clear rules and obligations for employees who are at risk These include the requirement for a 14-day self-isolation of such employees and cancellation of all meetings with the clients and co-workers. We have ensured the safety of working environments by thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting workplaces. In the event that an employee is suspected of being infected with COVID-19, a clear process must be in place for removing that employee from the facility, and for proper treatment of the facility. We updated our travel and meeting policies. Besides, we made sure that your social media policy is properly defined for this crisis. It is provided clear guidelines with regard to how employees can talk about your business and the impact of COVID-19 on operations and employee health and safety. We provided employees with an internal communication channel to report what they are seeing and feeling within the organisation to ensure direct communication as an alternative to social media. We worked through the most difficult scenarios and prepared appropriate communications for our employees in advance because our task is to provide a constructive response.

As you are involved in 3 sectors: Garment, Fabric & Yarn, so how is the situation now?

The domestic textile industry, which had seen demand slump in fiscal 2021 owing to onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, is firmly on course to recover in fiscal 2022 on the back of reopening of businesses, educational institutions and retail outlets with increase in the vaccinated population. The Government announcements such as the Production Linked Incentive scheme, setting up of mega textile parks, and extension of the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies scheme are also supporting the sector. The global textile industry is changing to meet the needs of the new market. With new trends in technology, domestic sales, green textiles and environmental sustainability, textiles will no longer just be clothing anymore. These

new trends have started to increase growth in the market as well. We recognised both the opportunity and the responsibility for business to take a lead role in addressing pressing global issues. As we continue to embrace change and position our company for long-term success, we believe that CR will help us achieve sustainable growth by managing risk, maximizing efficiency and driving value. Through our collective efforts, we seek to create value for society, the environment, and our business, all while moving the industry. Explore opportunities for automation and efficiency upliftment as well as plan and implement up-skilling of employees to prepare them for the re-engineered processes/ systems. There is a high demand for yarn. There are orders for the next three months lined up. The textile industry continues to be the second-largest employment generating sector in the India

Tell us about the Research and Development efforts in the last few years.

We have undertaken a CO 2 PROJECT to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption for our suppliers to stabilise our environmental impact. We have launched a GREEN COMPACT PROJECT. We have converted normal spinning into compact spinning yarn to increase the production, quality to value addition. We have presented recycled product. Rotor spinning also known as open-end spinning has been taken up. It uses a carded sliver that is fed onto a succession of single-spiked rollers that run at high speed. These rollers open the sliver so that the fibres can be fed almost individually via an airstream onto a grooved funnel that spins at a fast rate. In Compact spinning, the Elite Compact spinning system incorporated for 23000 spindles, which organises fibres in a parallel, close position before twisting, thereby reducing hairiness and improving tenacity. It also reduces imperfections. It improves evenness and reduces the ends-down rate.

What about the technologies and machinery for all the segments?

We have installed bobbin transport system in unit 1 spinning. We have incorporated spindle monitoring system. The mill has installed pinters individual monitoring system. This helps us in avoiding rough spindles idle spindles. the automatic winders are connected with visual manager and integrated with smart support system. Through this we can monitor daily performance. We have also incorporated roving stop motion in all the spinning to control the roving waste.

Which are the New Products that you have launched for these 3 Sectors & what are their USPs?

In yarn: 1. Compact yarn. 2.Recycle yarn. 3.Lycra yarn. 4.Organic yarn In Knitting: 1. Rib type. 2.Lycra. 3.Honey comb. 4.Picku. 5.Two thread fleecy. 6.Single rib. 7.Lycra rib. 8.Turbe. Drop needles In garment: 1. Basic rib neck. 2.T Shirt. 3.P Q-T Shirt. Brand: Indian Archers

What are the different fabrics and yarns that you make?

Omax Cotspin has a production line which can manufacture yarns of various counts ranging from 16s to 50s hosiery weaving yarn. The production capacity is around 50000 kg per day. We have also started manufacturing fancy yarns such as LYCRA & SLUB. Omax Cotspin has a production line which can manufacture OE yarns from count range to 4s to 20s with the production capacity of 20000 kg per day. In knitting fabrics, Omax Cotspin has extended its capability into knitting and hosiery fabrics, manufactured with our own best quality of yarn. The fabric width will be ranging from 18 diameters to 40 diameters. We are also into manufacturing LYCRA & SLUB Knitted Fabric.

Future of your company in the years 2022-2023?

The textile industry is expected to attract higher investment by 2022-23 and create about 35 million additional jobs in the process. Exports are also expected to rise. The upcycle fashion uses either pre-consumers or post-consumer’s wastes to manufacture new products. The process reuses old clothes without going through the recycling process. The fashion industry is going to be more sustainable with repaired, redesigned, and upcycled fashion.

INTERVIEW

MORE ROOM FOR MODERNISATION OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY :

S.K.CHATTOPADHYAY

Dr. S. K. Chattopadhyay retired from CIRCOT in 2020 after having worked for nearly four decades in various capacities in mills. Presently, he is a freelancer in academics, research journal publication and machine learning application in factory automation. Dr. Chattopadhyay replied exclusively to a Questionnaire sent by the Textile Value Chain. Excerpts:

Share your Education and Professional Journey

Ipassed West Bengal Higher Secondary Examination in first division in 1974 and was awarded a National Scholarship. I opted for a professional engineering degree course in Textile Technology under Calcutta University and passed the same with a first class in 1978. I joined Kesoram Cotton Mills Limited (now, KesoramIndustries Limited) Kolkata and started my professional career. Thereafter, I worked in HindoostanSpinning and Weaving Mills Limited (Thackersey Group) Mumbai in the years 1979-81. I did my full-time Master degree in Textile Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1983 and joined the Raebareli unit of U. P. State Spinning Mills Co No.1 as the Quality Control Incharge. Thereafter, I cleared the Agricultural Research Services (ARS) examination and joinedCentral Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT), then known as Cotton Technological Research Laboratory (CTRL), Mumbai,under the control ofIndian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). I worked there in various capacities such as, Scientist, Senior Scientist, Principal Scientist, Head of the Mechanical Processing Division and Director, before retiring in February 2020.Presently, I am working as a freelancer in academics, research journal publication and machine learning application in factory automation.

Being a researcher and educationist, tell your journey in industry and research, and the interaction

The 40-year full time professional journey was challenging, but engrossing and interesting. The feeling was exhilarating, as throughout the journey for about four decades, the technology was constantly churning and upgrading. I was witnessing innovations more often in the industry, and

there wasurgency to adapt quickly to the changes and bring out more innovations to be relevant in the industry. It was indeed a roller coaster ride, which was immensely satisfyingthen. I presume that the same was thefeelingof my contemporaries. When I joined the industry,the basic calculators were not available in the shop floor and the very first lesson of the training was to remember square roots ofall thread numbers and intermediate roving hank numbers by-heart to facilitate quick twist setting on the spinning machines. In the quality control lab, the most prized equipment was Filden-Walker first generation yarn evenness tester, which is now a prized collection inthe London Science Museum and Bradford Industrial Museum (UK).During the period, thoughmanyspinning millswere aggressively modernising their machines with Top Arm Drafting system replacing the iconicCasablanca system, the mill owners in general were not convinced with the replacement of old and lengthy blowroom line with a shorter version equipped with modern beaters and cleaners, due to high cost associated with such a replacement. This was the time when the organised sector was slowly losing the grip on fabric productionto the rising decentralisedpowerloom sector. The wet processing of textiles was the real woe, depending fully on the dyeing masters’ experience and bereft of any concern for the environment.

After joining CIRCOT in 1985, I initiated a research programme on causes and control of faults in Indian cotton yarns,which was then a burning problem of the spinning industry, regularly receiving complaintsfrom thegrowing export markets. We procured an electronic fault classifying equipment which was quite expensive in those days, and therefore, only two other machines were available in Mumbai then. My institute also, under my initiative and supervision,monetised this gap in the industry, and allowed mills to take advantage of the facility for assessing their yarns, conducted a number of diagnostic mill vs. laboratory trials, androped in students of the textile institutes to do their dissertationsto investigate the problem and suggested measures to contain faults in Indian yarn. It is hearting to note that Indian spinning industry is now producing the best of the yarn quality, particularly in terms of evenness, imperfections and faults. Even many mills are achieving a quality better than the Uster 5% world standard, compared to 25% or even poorer quality yarns, which many mills were producing before the 1990s. I think this isto be regarded as the single most significantachievement in which I was fully involved, and was collectively brought in by the joint efforts of the industry, research, and educational institutions. My field of research broadly included post-harvest processing and blending of fibres, development of machines for small sample spinning, modern spinning systems (rotor, air-jet and DREF friction), yarn splicing,poly lactic acid (PLA)fibres,technical textiles, and composites. In mid-1990s, through some market study, my team found that though there was a good demand for miniature spinning machines for producing yarn from small fibre samples, such machines were not available in India. The option was to import machines with a pretty old design, and ata veryhigh price, which was not desirable. Therefore, me and my team, took up developing entirely miniature modern spinning machines, initially controlled by microprocessor, then by programmable logic control (PLC) and finally, by personal computer (PC).Though the designing of the miniature machines was a technically challenging task which we could successfully do, thefurther major challenge wasto convince anentrepreneur to replicate the machines and manufacture them at one fourth the cost of the imported one. This challenge was also resolved by us and it gives me immense satisfaction that, the licensee who collaborated with us has produced and sold more than hundreds of such machinesto various stakeholders, who found the system/machineshandy, useful and economical.

Further, the research done by my team on utilisation of indigenous short and fine wool including Angora rabbit-hairs in blends with cotton for production of finer quality of woven and knitted fabrics, and for production of finer cotton-ramie blended yarns by adopting commercial cotton spinning system were unprecedented, and attracted much attention from the peers. We compared the performance of Indian cottons and their blends on ring, rotor and air-jet spinning systemsas early as in the 1990s, shortly after commercialization of the air-jet spinning machines.

My doctorate thesis has dealt with the formulation of a theoretical model to predict the fibre twistinghappening inside a rotating rotor that is inaccessible and cannot be seen in our view during the rotor spinning process.The model has emphasised the need of fibre engineering for quality yarn spinning and has experimentally validated. Then, under funding from the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), I was the Co-Consortium Project Investigator (CCPI) in two subprojects. Under the Basic and Strategic Research subproject of NAIP, I notably participated in the design and development of textile reinforced rubber dams for regulating water flow in a watershed for its storage, ground recharging and assured water supply in lean times. The development hasmade possibleto enhance crop productivity and cropping intensity in the project area, and many units have been installed in watersheds across the country, benefitting the farmers. In the other subproject on value chain for coconut fibre and its by-products, basic machines for extraction,segregation of coarse and fine fibres, scientific fibre grading, product diversification have been achieved.

Besides conducting many industry sponsored studies, I, along with my colleagues have publishedin national and international journalsand presented in seminars and conferencesabout 300 research and technical papers, book chapters and leafletsemanating from our various research studies.I have received a number of recognitions and awards for my contribution in research. In the last leg of my active research career, I inspired two bright young scientiststo join me in groundbreaking research using plant waste bio-macromolecule extractsfor preparation of sustainableflame resisting and UV protective cellulosic textiles that has now received wide international attention. The Latest Science (Abraham Thomas Foundation, USA) has acknowledged our contributionfor making an impact on scientific knowledge in Material Science and as a mark of recognition, displayed on their website, thesurface topography of the char residue of fire retardant cellulose reported by us for the first time.

As a Mentor, what qualities and capabilities you looked for in your post-graduate studentsand young scientist colleagues while involving them into research projects and what qualities you inculcate in them, when they work with you?

For a good number of years, I co-guided many textile technologypost-graduate students from reputed engineering institute like VJTI, Mumbai.Besides, from time to time, I,as the lead investigator, was guiding those research fellows and associates recruited in various time-bound externally funded projects, including two subprojects of National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of ICAR, funded by the WorldBank. In my long service in CIRCOT, I chose from time to time many younger colleague scientists and technical officers to be associated in the investigation of the projects formulated by me and mentored them. Particularly, when I was the Director of the institute, I could get about eight new young scientists to join CIRCOT and mentor them for research career.

In a young researcher,I always looked for their thorough involvement in the investigation of the problem, inclination to be involved in painstaking experimentations, integrity in data collection and recording and logical thinking. My mentoring involves not only in guiding them in conducting a fair investigation, but also in the analysis of collected data, modification of experiments, repeatand confirmation study, participation in draft report preparation and publication in a reputed/standard journal. Often, I have observed that though the technical and scientific content of research is excellent, but the paper is denied publication because of its poor presentation, obscure language and avoidable errors. Colleges do not teach how to write a good scientific paper.This task requiresmentoring to the young researchers onhow to write an error-less and fluid paperthat will impress upon and convey the science behind the experiment effectively to the reviewersand the readers.

With the availability of online ‘Editorial Manager’ and publication software, most international journals engage the services of 3 to 10 peer reviewers to review a submission, for publication. Often, a manuscript is rejected due to its poor readability. This was not much of a problem earlier, as the journal used to

get it improved by itslanguage editor without any charge. But many journals have now discontinued the service, and instead, ask the author to avail a paid language service. A researcher based in the third world countries may not find it easy to pay the charge in dollars of his own. Therefore, as a mentor, while critically reviewing the technical content in their papers, Iused to polish and rectify my juniors’ written English language, stressing the need of writing a research paper in simple sentences, so that the readability of the manuscript improves.

What are the latest trends and futuristic developments in the spinning industry?

Ring frame is the oldest and versatile yarn spinning machine, came into market ever since Whitin Machine Works started manufacturing it in the 1840s. Even though the basic technology of ring spinning remain largely unchanged, the machine design has undergone significant developments over the years for improved performance, as the industry still prefers it for its capacity to spin a wide range of yarn count (linear density) from almost any type of staple fibres. Ring frame producesa unique, superior quality of yarn compared to those yarns produced by the newer spinning systems like rotor, air-jet/ air vortex spinning systems, which are available in the market for the last 30-50 years. This is despite the restricted rate of yarn production due to limitations in spindle speed, high-power consumption, traveller wear, heat generation and yarn tension.As such, the productivity of each ring spindle is about 1/10th of a rotor spinning and 1/20th of the air jet spinning machines. While the rotor spinning is mostly limited to coarse yarn production, and the vortex spinning to polyester blended yarns in the medium to fine count range, thering spinning can traverse in allareas of spun yarn production. In fact, its latest commercially successfulvariant, the compact ring spinning, introduced by a couple of manufacturers at ITMA 1999 Paris exhibitionis the preferred machine nowadays.Presently, with about 230 million installed spindles world over, ring spinning is producing thethree-quarter of the total staple yarn of around 45 million tons produced. So, one can safely deduce that the ring spinning will remain the undisputed leader in the staple yarn production and continue to dominate the restin this century too. The maximum spindle speed of themost advanced spinning frame is currently about 25,000 rpm limited by the ring-traveller speed of about 45 m/s, beyond which the traveller gets burnt due to excessive friction while moving on the ring. Efforts are in full force in the R&D labs of various machine manufacturers and institutions to tackle the criticality of the process andmake a breakthrough in productivity. Research is mainly directed in three sensitive design issues of the ring frame, (i) reduction of friction between the ring and the traveller, like using the Orbit technology, where the contact surface between the ring and traveller has been enlarged by 4~5times for better heatdissipation (ii)modifying the ring-traveller system altogether, say by using a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) system to create a frictionless twisting during spinning, and (iii) reduction of yarn twist to increase the productivity, like in Nu-Torque technology, which incorporates a false twister to lower twisting rate during spinning. The big question is whether in future anyone or more such futuristic technology will succeed and double the ring spindle speed to 50,000 rpm, say by the year 2050. Concerning the developments of the preparatory machines to yarn spinning, the past tendency was to keep on increasing the production speeds and simultaneously improving, or at least maintainingthestatus quo in the processed material quality. Besides a great deal of effortswere put to achieve a near perfect opening and cleaning, and removing undesirable short fibres from cotton, auto control of material uniformity, increasingcapacities of intermediate packages, their auto-doffingand auto transport to the next machine. It appears that spinning preparatory machines have already reached to an admirable level of technology and the fact that the production capacity of preparatory section is higher than the actual spinning need, will deter the developments to continue in the similar fashion. In near future,manyapplications of computer science is expected. The machines themselves will decide how to adjust and run optimally based on the analysis of big past data (machine learning and artificial intelligence) without any interference of the technical supervisors, as is in the vogue now. Remote supervision and servicing of machines (Internet of Thing) will get significant importance. I will elaborate these terms in the later part of my interview. The advent of robots in large scale is also not ruled out, as the

absolute purity of fibre processing to spin yarns can be best preserved, if human beings refrain from touching fibres and manipulating them.

How has the textile industry technologically evolved in the last few years?

The industry needs enormous drivingforce to equip itself with the latest technologies and upgrades, as the action is highly capital intensive. The sector has become the most severely affected among manufacturing sectors due to the novel Coronavirus pandemic, prevailing for last two years. Before that also, the industry was experiencing sluggish demand in export markets and rising competitionfrom countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, andTurkey. The cascading effect of external demand shock along with domestic demand slack has resulted in lower production in all sectors of the industry. However, government initiatives to bolster the industry have raised hopes. At the forefront of the industryis the relativelymodernisedspinning sectorthathas gained global eminence with 30% market share for being a dependable supplier of quality yarns. India hasthe second-largest staple yarn spinning capacity withabout 48 million installed ring spindles, and producing approximately 6 billion kilograms of yarn.Under the prevailing situation, a large-scale further capacity augmentation, which we have witnessed in the past, cannot be expected. Mostly the spinningmills are upgrading technology, like replacing conventional ring frames with compact spinning, selectivelyacquiringrotor spinning for coarser yarn production and air-vortex machines for polyester blended yarn spinning. Acquisition of key technologies, like contamination detector, modern carding and combing machines, auto-doffing and other automation systems,including the latest generation of link winder with yarn cleaning system etc.,continues in the priority list, mainly aimed at maintaining the competitive edge in the yarn export market. The spinning industry still has older machines with about 15 million spindle capacity,which areproducing yarn inefficiently and need to be discarded or replaced with modern machines, so the sector is labelled as the fully modernized industry. Coming to weaving sector, 97% ofabout 76 thousand million square meters of fabrics (excluding Khadi, Wool, and Silk), are producedannually in the country by the decentralisedpowerloomsector. However, this sector intrinsically lacks modernisation, and is believed to have only 4% modern shuttleless looms out of about 25 lakhs installed capacity. As oftoday, most of the production is made with semi-automatic looms. But, thanks to the various policy interventions by the Governmentperiodically, the situation is improvingwith the sector adopting more and more automatic and shuttleless looms. The recent thrust of GOI to augment production of indigenous technical textile will also encourage the sector for weaving more of synthetics,heavier and higher width fabrics, that will invariably force the industryto adopt more modern looms. The Indian textile wet processing sector is on the course of erasing the infamous label on it being one of the most polluting industries, thanks to the growing public awareness and concerns related to global warming, climate change, green-house-gas emission, carbon footprint, water scarcity, sustainability, etc.The sector has about 2500 units, out of which about 200 is in the organised sector, and the rest as micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) manufacturers, making the modernisation a challenging task. The sector is slowly adopting or considering proactive measures, like combined scouring and bleaching,ultra-low liquor ratio machines, supercritical CO2 dyeing,combined dyeing and finishing,enzyme based biodegradable chemicals, low foam surfactants, bio-scouring, non-fluoro water repellents, zero discharge of hazardous chemicals (ZDHC),halogen free flame retardants, micro-encapsulated coatings, one bath one-step dyeing for polyester-cotton blended fabrics,high fixative dyes,digital printing, sublimation printing, efficient solvent recovery, etc. In the garmenting sector, out of about one lakh units in the country, 80% are in micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) manufacturers, rest 20% in the organised sector that mainly caters to the export markets. The garment production was at about 22 billion pieces in 2019-20, while made-ups stood at approx. 2.4 billion kg. India exported garments worth US$15,509 million and made-ups of about US$6,941 million in the said year.The sector is equipping with or considering adoption of new technologies such as,high-speed sewing machines, laser-cutting machines, new pressing and fusing machines, buttonhole machines, seam

bonding machines, seamless garment, digital and 3Dprinting, computer-aided design CAD), assembly line automation, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Across the board, the Indian textile industry is experiencing a tremendous growth potential due to various technological advancements, automation and artificial intelligence in machinery and processes, data-driven customer operations, application of data analytics in decision-making, besides eco-consciousness and increasing concern on manufacturing circularity.In testimony thereof, the industry has become an attractive destination for FDI, thanks to the recent policyinitiatives of the GOI.

Sustainability, Carbon footprint, Waste management how it’s relevant and important? It’s just a talk of the town or any fruitful measures taken by industry?

These are the trending terms nowadays in everybody’s mind, as the world, including India, bolsters its effort towards achieving net-zerocarbon emission to protect the earthand make it eternallyliveable for our future generation.Sustainability is a system or practice that should be adhered in our life, profession, business, service, collective and co-operative actions, so that we take from the earth only those resources that are easily renewable. This will do no harm to the environment and allow meeting the needs of the current generation without affecting the potential needs of the future generations.Waste control and management including using energy and water efficiently, are important means to attain and maintain the wheel of sustainability, On the other hand, carbon footprint is an indicator or a measure of sustainability. It is the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane which are generated by us and by our actions, and expressed as carbon-dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Needless to say, lower is the carbon footprint, the better we are doing for the sustainability of the earth. These terms may appear new to the textile industry, but it is many times resorting to discrete measures on an incremental basis to reduce their adverse impact.I give a few examples. Installation of variable frequency drive (VFD) system, soft-starter along with energy-efficient motors, improving power factor, use of lighter-weight yarn and fabric package, lighter spindle, efficient spindle oil in bolsters, sandwich jointless tape, lighter-weight pulley in place of drum driving the ring spindles, use of false-ceiling and return hot-air from pneumafils in spinning shop floor, optimum ring diameter relative to yarn package and balloon setting, intermittent movement of empty conveyor, use of steam heating in place of electric heating, use of mist nozzles for yarn conditioning, FRP impellers in fans replacing aluminum ones, combined treatments in wet processing, bath recovery system, counterflow current washing, cold treatments, continuous washing, heat recovery unit, HTHP machines, enzymatic scouring and washing, use of sensors and control system, less water and less temperature wet processing, treatment of dye house effluents to recover chemicals and water for reuse, etc. Since 1980s, Indian textile industries are adopting various suchmeasures to reduce the cost of production by saving raw materials, chemicals, energy, water, compressed air, and adopting waste recovery and reuse measures.Thus,even when the sustainability issue was not of much concern world-over, the textile industry adopted measures which have acted beneficially in improving the sustainability of the industry. Needless to say, much is desired to be done, particularly in extending the coverage to the medium and small sectors of the industry. The point to be noted is that when we are in textile production business, it is just not feasible notto harm anything. We cannot adhere to the very basic definitions of sustainability stated aboveas a whole. What is possible and important in this juncture is that we go on reducing consumption of non-renewable raw materials for textile production, hunt for alternate source of renewable inputs including energy, stop using harmful chemicals, not drain them in the environment, and go extra-miles to ensure that whatever we produce or discard during the manufacture, is reused to the maximal. In this context, the definition given by K. Fletcher (2009) is more practical and should be the policy guideline for the textile industry. He stated, “A sustainable product is one that is manufactured in such a way that it has the lowest possible adverse effect on the environment. e.g., by making the most efficient use of resources such as water and energy and which goes the extra mile to recover raw materials, e.g.,

by the recycling of as much water as possible or by recovering the heat from wastewater discharges”. What is more important is that the industry must include a sustainability agenda in the business policy and ensure an acceptable auditing.It should periodicallyself-declare the various indicators of sustainability it has attained, and the time-bound goal it has set for the organisation. The industry association like CITI should come forward and take the lead in setting the quantitative and qualitative norms for each segment of the textile industryfor a positive environmental impact, rather than the government set norms by legislation or foreign buyers insist on certain norms as a pre-condition to buy Indian textiles. This apart, another essential concern for the textile industry is the circularity of production of both goods and wastes throughout the value chain. If nothing is thrown out as rubbish for landfills in the earth and emissions released in the environment are controlled, and ifthe remnants of the product at the end of their lifecycles,as well as the discards are reprocessed and reused, much will be done to improve the sustainability. Indeed, Panipat’s textile recycling units in the decentralised sector are doing an impressive job by processing textile wastes collected through their network and turning the waste into useful products for reuse. Various actions for circularity of the economy should be in-built in the quest for attaining the sustainability goal of the production unit.Today’s Indian textile industry economy is mostly of a linear nature, Take–Make–Waste. It must be turned into a circular withthe order of using the non-sustainable raw materials and chemicals as, Avoid—Alternative— Reduce—Reuse—Recycle.The earlier we transform, the better is the sustainability of the nation.

How Data Analysis, Machine Learning, AI, Block Chain is important for the industry and how we can implement in textile and apparel industry?

These are emerging developments in the field of computer science, but not limited to only companies dealing with information technology. They are being increasingly used by other industries as well to optimize the resources, bring post-production and customer experience in a seamless loop, and run the business intelligently empowered by improved data analytics. In fact, these are some important components of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that has poised to redefine traditional boundaries of the present industries, not only to change the way we work and relate to one another, butalso, to createmany new opportunities.The textile industry cannot remain insulated from such spectacular developments. In the past, the industry has adopted all significant developments made inthe first to third industrial revolutions, got enriched technologically and reached to the present height of phenomenal success. In the same way, sooner or letter, the textile and apparel industry is going to adopt and implement all the beneficial technologies of the present industrial revolution to empower itself and convert every production unit as a ‘smart’ factory. As such, big data and machine learning are different from each other, but these two hot trending technologies are used in combination for a successful business. The input to the machine learning algorithms is the information extracted by analysis of big data. This input is then learned by the machine learning models to predict the desired outputs.We all use data in our profession as well as in daily life for better understanding of events, and for decisionmaking. But these are relatively ‘small’ data, and often we may use Excel like spreadsheet or other dedicated computer programmes for analysis of the data and its interpretation. But as the world turns more and more into digital, we areoften fed with huge amount of data, better known as big data that cannotbe handled the way we are handling small data.Giving example from the textile field say, visualinspection of fabric defects post-weaving is traditionally done on an illuminated inspection frame, where only a limited number of defects on a restrictive scale per unit time can be recorded, and classification of defects is done manually. However, if the inspection can be performed by capturing images of the portions of the fabric continually with a high-speed camera during the manufacturing process itself, it is possible to gather a massive data on fabric defects rapidly and perform anerrorless classification based on the algorithm. In this case, we will be dealing with big data on non-conformities in our fabric production. Big data is typically characterisedby ‘5V’s namely, Volume (of data), Variety (different types of data), Velocity (speed at which the datais gathered and processed), Veracity (quality and consistency of data), and Value

(usefulness of the data after extraction of information and interpretation). Machine learning (ML) on the other hand, enables machines/computers to learn from experiences (i.e., from information provided by big data) to find out patterns, insights, learn more and make decisions without human intervention (i.e., without explicitly doing the programming). Thus, instead of writing code, we just feed big data to the generic algorithm, and the algorithm itself builds the logic based on the given input data.Big data analytics is all about collecting and transforming raw data into extracted information, and this data information is then used by the machine learning algorithms to predict better results or future without or with minimal human intervention. The machine learning is a subset of AI (artificial intelligence). In our example of capturing big data on fabric defects, ML can do numerous classifications of defects, including identification of source and cause of defects based on its algorithms and continuous learning fromthe extracted information.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also known as machine intelligence, since it mimics the human thought process and enables machines to function on their own similar to human intelligence, like the ability to perceive, learn, reason, and act. It concerns development of intelligent or smart machines, those can think and work like humans. In our cited example on fabric defect detection, at present a trained ‘human being’ working on the inspection tableapplies his logic and decides whether a fabric with a particular defect is to be altogether rejected or it is to be allowed after mending the defect manually with a hand tool. In future, this job of the human being is likely to be simulated by an AI-powered robot that will apply logic more rationally and accurately, and mend the defects precisely and tirelessly. Thus, when acting in fusion, these three technologies, namely Big Data Analytics, ML and AI are likely to bring disruptive changes in textile productions and businesses.

A blockchain is essentially a digital ledgeror record of transactions that allow digital information or transaction to be recorded and distributed, but not edited.Every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger. Itbeing an immutable ledger, the said transaction cannot be altered, deleted, or destroyed. As the decentralised database is managed by multiple participants in a blockchain, it is also known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).Currently the blockchain is used for management of complex textile/apparel supply chain characterised by a vast network of manufacturers, warehouses, transport depots, communication channels and logistic providers, each managing own databases and logistics. In a blockchain, flow of data happens continuously in a real time and the same is visible to all permitted parties, as it is a single immutable ledger, in contrast to commonly adopted conventional mutable multiple ledgers with fragmented data. Thus, the blockchain allows a retailer to build more customer-centric supply chains that prioritize authentication and trust. The other likelyapplications of blockchain will be comparing daily productivity of different textile units, may be located in different places by a single converted yarn count or fabric sort. It can also provide insight on short fall in production, digital provenance of apparel brands to prevent counterfeiting, displaying of sustainable and ethical credentials, tracking of lifecycle of a textile product from raw material to design and sale, use and then resale and recycling. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to numerousmachines (physical devices) around the world that are now connected to the Internet, all collecting and sharing data. An example of IoT application that is getting faster application in textile industry is theremote machine servicing platform that also includes electronic hardware, embedded sensors, production process monitoring system, predictive maintenance algorithms, etc. In case of a breakdown, the machines can be serviced remotely, without needing the physical presence of an expert service engineer in the production site. If needed, even the corrupted machine programme can be replaced by uploading a fresh programmeremotelythrough the internet only. This will reduce the downtime of the machine and servicing cost, thereby improving the productivity of the unit.

We can expect exciting developments to happen in the textile sector by adopting these new technologies.No doubt, it is a long way for the Indian textile manufacturing units before they get transformed into smart factories.

How Research and Development is a part of important process in the industry, industry adoption, investment of same.

R&D should be an integral agenda of the innovation led textile industry. Since the industry is operating in the private sector, handsome private funding particularly for conducting applied and strategic research to meet the organisation’s specific short-termrequirements is to be ensured. For long-term researches, which are of basic in nature and require multidisciplinary expertise, the industry should sponsor the problem-solving to educational and research institute. While most of the units in the organisedtextile sector have their own in-house R&D setups, often recognised by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and are doing what is necessary for their requirements, the same is not the case for the units in the decentralised sectors. Good researchdemands significant funding. It is suggested that a national level fund for textile education and research be created by levying a suitable cess on trade of textile materials, besides ensuring active industry participation in textile education and research. Such fund to be allocated to the institutes on competitive basis, judging the novelty, strength, and industry participation in the submitted proposal. This is vital for the growth of innovations in the sector that is structurally fragmented anddecentralised in nature.

Educationist research hardly applied on commercial production of the industry, what is the reasons, setbacks and how we can integrate industry with educationist to get maximum productivity of research

The statement is not fully true. Incremental research and the knowledge generated therein has reached the industry and are adopted by it. Unlike in the agricultural field, where the beneficial outputs of the research need to carried to the small and marginal farmers (i.e., the stakeholders) in a positive mode for obvious reason of their poor capability in accessing information of their own, the textile industry is fairly equipped with qualified personnel, who themselves gather the various technical developments around them and from the world. I have already given the example of the period of 1990s, when the spinning industry was pressured from the export market to improve yarn quality, various institutions provided the necessary research support. Today, the industry is producing the best quality of yarn. The annual Joint Technological Conference and other seminars do a good job of research disseminations from the research and educational institutes.However, the weak link between the educational/research institute and the textile industry is not a denying fact. Often, the average student quality and also, the research emanating from the institutes are not meeting the expectations of the industry.One biggest lacuna is the absence of an exclusive university on textile sciences in the country, that can oversee the standard of education and research to maintain them not only to the desired quality, but also keep them comparable with the best in the world.It is to be borne in mind that today’s textile technology is highly diverse and complex, dealing with not only a few natural fibres, but a host of synthetic fibres of different origin, using varied yarn making systemsandwoven, nonwoven, knitting and braided fabric making machines,colouring and finishing processes, garmenting or otherwise, for both apparels and technical applications. Anotherlacuna isthe lack of information on how the Indian industry is technologically moving. Presently, we get some broad information on installed machinery capacity and production figures. But for a better insight on the technological strength of the industry, to format textile education and research and policy formulation, detailed technology wise information on installed capacity and production data are desired. Hopefully, the Office of the Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles (MOT, GOI) is in the process of collecting such valuable statistics regularly, via their web based Online Return System. Since time immemorial, India is known for textiles, for its innovativeness, uniqueness, as well as diversity. Now, we may be experiencing disadvantage in terms of cost of production and discomfort in export market. But these are not difficult to overcome. What is needed is a will to change and adapt and assimilate the technologies for the betterment of the textile industry.

INTERVIEW

FROM PINS TO ROLLERS & MUCH MORE, BASANT FIBERTEK EXPANDS : KISHORE KHAITAN

Basant Fibertek Pvt Ltd manufactures textile pins and a wide range of products for the spinning sector and other segments. Located in Rajasthan, the company has made rapid strides in the production of these products supported by high-tech technologies and machinery. The company has never rested on its laurels.Its Unit-II now is manufacturing rotors and opening rollers. Mr. Kishore Khaitan, Managing Director of the company is a well-known personality among the textile industry circle. He replied in details to a Questionnaire sent by the Textile Value Chain. Excerpts:

What are the various products your company manufactures, especially for the spinning segment?

We started with manufacturing Pins 58 years ago in 1964 and over the years expanded our product range to include a wide range of products for all types of Spinning proesses. We also manufacture some products for sectors other than Spinning and for non-textile applications too. For the Spinning sector, wemanufacture spiked lattices, pinned beaters for Blowroom, Chute feed opening rollers and Pinned Lickerins for cards. For Open-end Spinning, we set up a new advanced manufacturing facility, as our Unit II, to manufacture Rotors and Opening rollers for all makes of latest OE machines.

Besides, we also manufacture Pinstrips for Worsted Spinning Gill Boxes used in woollen, acrylic and silk spinning. For Linen Spinning preparatory lines Hackle pins and pinstrips as well as nylon Gills. We are also a major supplier to the recycling industry of pinned lags used for converting textile waste into fibres. Most of the large well-known Spinning Mills in India are our clients. We supply to many OEMs too besides many Mills abroad. What are their USPs and special characteristics? How are they better in terms of quality than cheaper imports? We are pioneers in India, having started manufacturing steel pins for textile machinery way back in 1964. Since then, we have diversified our product line and updated our technology with the best know-how from world’s leading companies in Germany and USA. Our USP is world class innovative products, application engineering and custom solutions to problems faced by Mills and the best value for money in terms of payback on investment. Another

USP is our ability to innovate new and customised solutions to meet specific requirements of our clients, given our deep understanding about fibres and spinning and we producing our own pins. We have successfully been pioneers in developing many import substitute products indigenously, the lastest being Magnetic Rotors for fully automatic Rotor Spinning machines. We also hold international patents and registered designs for some of our products.

If in exports, where are your markets abroad?

Let us know about new markets that you have opened up recently? We export 50% of our production to more than 40 countries in all five continents including Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. Recently we have entered the CIS countries and plan to enlarge our presence in South America too.

Please do let us know about the technologies and machinery being utilised for the production?

We use CNC machines and high level of automation in all our processes. We use more than 25 different technologies for manufacture of our products including wire working and heat treatment, surface finishing, injection moulding, CNC machining, ultrasonic equipment, dynamic balancing and electroplating, among others. In all our processes, we extensively use best manufacturing practices such as TPM. Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, SQC and many others.

What are your plans for the next phase of expansion and diversification?

We recently completed a major expansion in 2021 to double our capacity for Pinned Rollers and lags as well as for OE components. Next expansion is planned in 2023. We are also aggressively investing in Sustainability. Our Unit II is a green building. We are installing rooftop solar to cover a major part of our power consumption, making efforts to reduce water consumption, increasing use of recyclable materials in packaging and taking several other ESG initiatives. We are also doing our bit in promoting recycling in the textile industry by providing highly cost-effective solutions, using pins in recycling machines, to regenerate fibres of high quality at a low cost. We have been able to raise production and quality while reducing cost for many of our recycling clients. We have plans for offering comprehensive support services to Spinning Mills and will share the details when the time comes.

How has your company managed the Covid times?

We have grown our turnover by more than 110% over the pre-covid FY 2019-20. This has been possible only due to the trust and relationship we enjoy with our domestic and foreign clients. Our production suffered only for one month in each of the years 2020 and 2021 but due to the dedication and hard work of our employees, we were able to spring back strongly. We also used the Covid time to focus on innovation, cost reduction and adding new products and services to our range so that we can add more value to our clients and improve profitability.

What is your wish-list for the industry and also the Government to promote textile spares and accessories?

The Indian Government is not doing enough specially to encourage MSMEs in the make In India initiative. While the government did something for financial support during Covid, taxation is high, incentives for expansion as well as depreciation rates are very low, export incentives have reduced and the ecosystem for R&D and innovation is also insufficient. It will hugely help promote manufacture of textile machinery and parts in India if the government launches a TUF-like scheme for Textile Engineering Industry (TEI) also. However, that said, I strongly believe that the companies engaged in the Indian TEI should think big and aspire to become global players in their line of product or service and adopt global standards of manufacturing, design and service in their operations. The other thing they should focus on is to understand the user needs more deeply and provide superior solutions to enable the mills improve their quality, productivity and cost competitiveness. Though the journey will be tough and challenging, it is certainly achievable and worthwhile. Indian Textile Industry can aspire to global leadership only if the backbone of TEI is strong to support that goal!

SANGAM INDIA’S EXPORTS SOAR 114%, PLAN BIG EXPANSION: S.N. MODANI

INTERVIEW

Established in 1984, Sangam India Ltd is one of the leading manufacturers in PV dyed yarn, cotton and OE yarn and also ready to stitch fabric. The company produces 35 million meters of PV fabric and 48 million meters of denim fabric annually. The Group has also introduced a seamless garment manufacturing facility with 52 seamless knitting machines. Sangam started with only eight weaving machines in 1984 and is now being recognised as a leading brand in the textile industry, with presence in over 50 countries.

The company’s major expansion kick-started in 2014, as the group saw an increase in Denim capacity to 35 million meters p.a. Installation of state-of-the-art Seamless Garment Machines with a capacity of 3.6 lakhs pieces p.a. The next big step was venturing into the B2C market space with the launch of C9 Airwear, a casual wear & active wear apparel brand for women in 2015. C9 Airwear is available across 1000 multi brand outlets in India and all major digital retail portals. Dr. S N Modani, CEO & Managing Director, Sangam India Ltd replied to a Questionnaire sent by the Textile Value Chain. Excerpts:

How has the Sangam Group managed the Covid times for nearly two years?

Covid-19 had a profound effect on the textile sector of India, forcing garment factories to shut down or work at half capacity to stem new cases. We saw a historic drop in local sales and exports at an industry level, which continued for the better half of 2021 as well. Sangam India took this opportunity to rework our strategy by improving internal efficiencies and focusing on the opportunities in the global market. We invested our time in refining our systems and processes to ensure our business readiness once the markets open. Now, with the vaccination drive in full swing and the markets bouncing back to pre-covid levels,

the textile sector has also witnessed tremendous growth in the last 2 quarters, enabling us to operate at 90% capacity utilisation. The extra impetus given by us in laying down our export strategy paid rich dividends when our exports grew by 114% in Q3 FY 22.

Sangam Group signed an MoU with Rajasthan Government? Please give us some details.

As a part of our larger expansion strategy, we signed an MoU with the Government of Rajasthan, to invest INR 1,521 crore to set up multiple manufacturing units focusing on Spinning, Weaving, Garments, Knitting and Processing in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. The funding for the same would be raised in a combination of debt, internal accruals and equity.

What is the current situation in yarn manufacturing? What are the plans for expansion/ diversification in the near future?

SIL is running on optimum capacity utilisation and we feel there’s scope to increase market share across all our businesses. Our current focus is to expand our Yarn business and we have divided our expansion strategy into two phases. Over both phases, we would be installing 65,664 spindles for the manufacture of cotton yarn at Spinning Unit-II, Village Sareri, at an estimated cost of INR 274.5 crore. The expansion will pan out over the next 3 years. This will help us increase revenue by 25% We are also looking at expanding our Garments vertical by installing 106 knitting machines at an estimated cost of INR 157 crore. This project is proposed to be implemented under Production Linked Incentive Scheme (“PLI Scheme”).

Give us some information on export performance in various Divisions?

Sangam India has posted a record sales of INR 1691 crore with our exports division contributing 36% at INR 607 crore (Yarn at Rs. 289cr, Fabric at Rs 316cr and Garments at Rs. 3cr). With this, the company’s exports have recorded an impressive jump of 114% on a YoY basis.

What should the Government and industry do to achieve the export targets?

The Government has already introduced key incentives like Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products, Rebate of State & Central Taxes and Levies which will help boost exports and give the nation a competitive edge at a global level. Recently, the government even announced the omission of anti-dumping duties on Viscose. Apart from that, we also need to look at building a robust and disruptive textile infrastructure through dedicated textile parks, which could create an ecosystem for achieving the nation’s export targets.

RADIANZA™ AW22/23 COLLECTION BY FULL THAI KNITTING

Full Thai Knitting, an excellent reputation knitwear producer has launched AW22/23 flat knit collection with sustainability focus with Radianza™ fibre, an eco-friendly fibre from Thai Acrylic Fibre Co. Ltd. Full Thai Knitting was founded in 1987, located in Nonthaburi, Thailand. They export annually more than 2 million garments with over400 styles to global retail brands. All styles are made by flat knit machines. Not only the design that they focus on, but also the good quality of the materials. “We have been receiving enquiries from customers about sustainable and eco-friendly materials for years, and the demand is continuously growing. Acrylic is one of top choices in sweaters and winter wear, but it was challenging to find sustainable acrylic in the market. We then were introduced to Radianza™ - how much natural resources are saved with zero discharge as well as the initiatives and certification of it. We were very interested in developing a collection with it and this is also a good opportunity to use the characteristics of Radianza™ to promote the products. The feedback we have been giving after launching is very positive and we look forward to receiving many more positive feedback and the high demand on this collection in the upcoming season,” said WeeraCharoensintaweekoon, Managing Director, Full Thai Knitting.

INTERVIEW

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE FORE FRONT : ANJANI PRASAD

In the past three years, Archroma introduced over 70 systems designed in line with the principles of “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: Safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”, says Anjani Prasad, MD of Archroma India.

What was the impact of Covid-19 on the company’s working, particularly Archroma’s India unit? How did it manage the pandemic times?

Safety comes first at Archroma and we have been working all along with safeguards aimed at protection our colleagues and partners, as well as business continuity. As a result, we have been able to operate, and serve customers and markets through the pandemic. We have regional teams near to our customers and supported by our distributor channels. Also, as Archroma has best-in-class IT cloud-based infrastructure and communication tools, Wwe were able to maintain our close interactions with our customers and partners through online regular webinars and meetings. We found that customers were very receptive to this new way of working. And in the end, passion of doing business and a motivated team is what has helped Archroma weather the pandemic so far.

Sustainability in textiles has been a major focus of Archroma. What are the solutions and systems for upholding these values?

In the past three years, Archroma introduced over 70 systems designed in line with the principles of “The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: Safe, efficient, enhanced, it’s our nature”, for paper, packaging, fashion, technical textile, and many other applications. We can all see the growing consumer demand for products that are safer for people and kinder to the environment. At Archroma, we believe that we can help transform fashion and textiles by providing solutions that bring value, including sustainable value, whilst optimizing costs and resource utilization in production.” We support this approach with a decisive focus on innovation. Archroma has launched several breakthroughs over the past few years, such as the aniline-free* Denisol® Pure Indigo at the core of our PURE INDIGO FLOW system, or the plant-based

EarthColors® colorants made from biomass waste, which is used in our LOVE NATURE X EARTHCOLORS system. We have also launched an online search tool called the SYSTEM SELECTOR to help textile brands and manufacturers find the various systems available to them across various segments: https://www. archroma.com/systems

What are the new products launched in the last one year? How are their characteristics important to the industry?

We have launched the Appretan® NTR range of water-based polymeric binders based on renewable natural ingredients, used in two compostable binder systems especially designed for nonwoven cleaning rags and food filters, and named NATURE BOUND and RAG N’ ROLL. And just a few days ago we announced the new Siligen® EH1, a new vegan textile softener with one-third plant-based active content, used in our new EARTH SOFT system. These help us-and our partners in the textile, fashion, and paper market- to minimize our dependence on petroleum, fossil fuel products. Archroma launches EARTH SOFT system based on Siligen® EH1, a new vegan textile softener with one-third plant-based active content

Please give us an overall view of the R&D activities of Archroma India?

Archroma has a global R&D network with dedicated expert Competence Centres located all over the world, and with local expert representatives in the main markets, including India. Archroma The company invests significant resources, people, and technology in these Competence Centres to Research and develop new state of the art technologies.

A new ‘Tech Hub’ has been opened at Basel in Switzerland by Archroma. What is its significance?

Archroma moved to its headquarters to a new location in Pratteln, near Basel, Switzerland, in December 2021, after a decade of growth at our TechCenter site, located in a town also in the Basel area. The TechCenter evolved over the past 8 years from being a dedicated technical center to hosting a growing number of corporate services and teams. With the opening of the new headquarters, the TechCenter returns to its roots with focus on the global R&D and application development, supporting those of the Competence Centers (CC) based in Switzerland.

Give us a brief view of Archroma’s contribution to technical textiles.

From fiber to finish, Archroma has a variety of specialty chemicals and systems catering to the technical textile markets for spinning, pre-treatment, dyeing, coating, and finishing. As mentioned we aim to push the agenda on sustainable transformation with innovations such as our Smartrepel® range for durable water repellency that is not based on fluorine, SAFE SEATS 2.0, a system with anti-microbial and flame protection for car seats fabrics, and TOUGH CAMO , a non-infrared reflective pigment printing system for military wear, with high durability and dramatically reduced water consumption. This is in addition to the standard range of finishing and functional effects such as coatings, flame retardants, antibacterial, UV and weather protection, soil and stain protection, etc. required in various growing areas of technical textile applications such as automotive, transportation, industry, exterior textiles, etc.

What does the future of Archroma India look like? What are the ambitious plans & programmes?

Archroma’s future looks good with the textile industry expected CAGR annual growth rate at 4.4% with the growing sectors of home textile exports and technical textiles. The Indian textile industry is upbeat with the announcement of PLI schemes, and 7 mega textile parks. The recent Budget is also positive towards the industry and aimed for a holistic sustainable growth. Archroma India has ambitious plans to further grow and develop with our customers and drive the industry towards a more sustainable future. We help our customers and brands by offering them industry-leading and eco-advanced systems and solutions for better quality, value addition and differentiation to compete and win in their own local and global markets.

RECYCLING IS THE FUTURE :

MR. CHHAGANBHAI SANGANI

A recognised name in the textile industry, Alliance Fibres Limited was established in 2006 as India’s third PET Recycling Plant for manufacturing Polyester Staple Fibres (PSF) made out of post-consumer pet bottles. “We are the fi rst company in INDIA to certify with OBP Certifi cation for the ocean recycled polyester products. The OBP Certifi cation Program is developed by the NGO Zero Plastic Oceans in collaboration with the certifi cation group Control Union to protect oceans from the continuous leakage of Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) from land-based activities,” says Shri. Chhaganbhai Sangani, Chairman and Managing Director of Alliance Fibres Ltd. GREENFIL® is the offi cial sustainable brand of Alliance Fibres Limited. It symbolises the product which is made by ethical recycling of post-consumer PET bottles which are damaging the nature and earth eco-system by polluting to the land, rivers and oceans. “We collect such bottles with the help of waste management supply chain partners and converting these waste into the wearable green textile products. The way of converting waste into the sustainable products defi nes as GREENFIL WAY,” says Mr.Kuldeep Sangani, Director (Sales – Domestic & Exports), who is the 2ndgeneration in the business. The GREENFIL® Products Range includes Recycled PET Bottle Flakes, Recycled Polyester Staple fi bres, Recycled Polyester Filament Yarns (POY / DTY / FDY), Recycled PET Ropes and Recycled Polyester Fabrics (Knitted / Woven). The company plans to launch projects ofRecycled PET Chips for Textile Grade & Food Grade.

INTERVIEW

Mr. Kuldeep Sangani (Director-International sales) spoke to the Textile Value Chain, Excerpts: Please tell us about the beginning of this recycling business and also the developments? After visiting a booth in an exhibition held in Singapore in 2004, and seeing waste PET bottles along with PET Flakes and recycled PSF (Polyester Staple Fibres) lying side by side with each other, my father was excited to understand the process and wondered as to how this is possible. This excitement became a vision to jump into this industry in the Indian market after seeing running plants in China in the same year. Coming from textile background, he easily understood the product and its scope in the Indian market, talked with business friends about this project whether is it good idea to setup this industry in India or not as fi nance was the main constraint during that time. Though managed the fi nance from relatives and partners, decided to install India’s third plant of recycled PSF with a capacity of 20 MT/Day, Named Alliance Fibres Ltd in June 2006. His vision was converted from idea to

execution just in 3 years. He started his career with technician for draw texturized machine with Himson group. Then he started one servicing company for the AMC of the DTY machines and acquired huge a long list of clienteles from the industry. In 1998, started own industry with one DTY machine and then installed Yarn dying unit at KIM (Surat) and then expanded business in Alliance Fibres Ltd.

In 2011, installed India’s first mechanical recycled filament yarn (POY/DTY) plant with 20 MT/Day capacity. Parallelly, we expanded capacity of the PSF unit to 50 MT/day. We have introduced world’s first Recycled PET Ropes in 2015 with 2MT/day capacity. In 2019 again POY plant capacity was expanded to 30 MT/day. Currently we are coming up with the latesttechnology in Recycled filament for better evenness and barre free properties for dyeing guaranteed recycled yarn. Our total PET bottle recycling capacity will become 150 MT/day by April, 2022. Currently we are recycling about 200 MT of PET waste to make recycled PSF, POY/DTY/FDY& Ropes. We are having following certificates:Oeko-Tex,GRS (Global Recycled Standard), Guinness world record -- for participating in making world’s largest T-shirt from recycled yarns, ISO 9001:2015, BIS - 11066: 2014, and OBP (Ocean Bound Plastic) Certificate –The. World’s first certificate for recycled PSF, Yarns, Ropes& Fabrics. What are the machines you use for producing polyester staple fibres, filament yarns, and ropes by sustainable way for making our earth alive? And from where do you source that machinery? Our PSF plant and POY plant technologies are from China, rope plant is a combination of Chinese and Indian technologies. We have also installed many European-make auxiliaries technology for the better quality of finished product. We have in-house R&D &Maintenance teams for continuous improvements and better productivity in the process and products and machinery modifications. How did you manage your business in the pandemic – 2020? During the pandemic, we could well manage our staff and employees by providing them foods and safe stays. Our plant closed for only 10 days during lockdown. Just after that we got orders from various companies making fabrics for govt. medical supplies. Also, we got good orders for anti-microbial fibres and filaments during the COVID pandemic. What are the changes that you saw in the year 2021 after some relaxations from the pandemic? ThePandemictaught us so many lessons. There is a huge difference between pre-Covid and post-Covid lifestyles. Businesses revived with increased demand in textiles. Lots of expansion has been announced in the industry. During the pandemic, we have also modified our machineries for better quality and higher productivity. Just after thepandemic, we got good market demands due to improvement in quality of product than other players in the market. Please brief us about the efforts of the Research and Development Department? We have a dedicated R&D division with the vision of developing new conceptual yarns, fibres, ropes & fabric. Though our products are very basic, we are focusing on the technical parameters of the recycled fibres/yarns/fabrics by maintaining high quality raw material inputs (PET Flakes), and so the melt characteristics. As we are working with many brands like IKEA, Inditex, H&M, C&A, Decathlon, Wallmart, Home Depot, etc., directly or indirectly, we are getting challenging developments from them and our R&D team working hard to achieve the desiredproducts. We have our dedicated director team - Mr. V.B. Shah, Mr. Jignesh Patel, Mr. Ashwin Patel, , Mr. Bharat Koradiya, Mr. Satish Koradiya, Mr. Ronak Kachhadiya, , Mr. Prakash Patel, Mr. ChandreshVasani and Mr. Piyush Patel, are well managing and heading all different company operations

for continuous development in the products and processes to achieve success in PET recycling Industry. We are expecting 250+ crores of Sales Turnover during current financial year 2021-22. We have vision to achieve 500+ crores of sales turnover by 2025 by enhancing capacities and value addition in the existing product ranges. How do you see the future of your Industry, in 2022 & beyond? Recycling is the future whether it is of plastics or of any other products. Without recycling, mother earth will not last for a long. Sustainability has become the buzzword in the world now-a-days. Many things are yet to achieve in the recycled PET Industry. New technologies are coming up every day to get virgin like look, feel, lustre, workability and efficiency. Textile field will always remain “baby” in a sense of industrial lifecycle. Everyday new concepts are coming up in the industry. Before a decade or two, textile meant for only clothes, and now textile has many strong branches such as Home-Textiles, Technical-Textiles, Geo-Textiles, Automotive-Textiles, Nano-Textiles, Medical-Textiles, Aero-Textiles, etc. There are no doubts that many more branches of textiles are yet to born especially considering sustainability. What is your message for the startups in this industry? Textile is a big industry and being in the industry, make a vision to be the best in the quality supply and customer service. Do innovations through continuous improvements. Be passionate and committed to achieve your dream vision. Invest more and more in R&D and people for the best outcome for the industry and for yourself as well. Recycling textiles has many more doorsteps to achieve, grab it otherwise someone else will grab. Please contact us at info@alliancefibres.com or visit our website www. alliancefibres.com for any inquiries related to PET recycled products.

PET Bottle Waste coming in Baled Form from all over india

Washing-Line : Segregation of PET Waste before crushing Arial View Alliance Fibres Limited