Bright prospects ahead for textile industry'

Tirupur: The country's textile-sector prospects will be bright and may last for the next 20-25 years, the Union Minister of State for Textiles, Mr E.V.K.S Elangovan, has said.

Inaugurating an international workshop on Italian fashion and design here, the Minister said that part of his optimism was on account of India's demographic profile, where 54 per cent of the country's population are people below 25 years of age and 80 per cent of them are educated.

'This skilled working-age population will continue to grow into the century. More and more talented designers should join the fashion design industry to bring new and exciting design concepts to the textile industry,'' he said.

Enhancing trade


Mr Elangovan pointed out that Italy was keen to enhance its textile trade with India and forums like this, associated with fashion designing, would give an opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs in the fashion industry to forge partnerships with successful Italian fashion houses. It was in this background that Italy had chosen India as a `focus country' for trade promotion in 2007.

The international workshop, attended by an eight-member delegation from Italy — including fashion design experts and textiles faculty from Milan University — was jointly organised by the Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (Pdexcil) and the Mumbai-based Banyan Tree Holdings Pvt Ltd (Italy's Carrera group) in association with the Tirupur Exporters Association and the Komarapalayam-based SSM College of Engineering.