India ITME Technology Awards

Mr. Uday Gill, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Fibers, Indorama Ventures Ltd., stated that “Encouragement and recognition are essential for people to innovate and grow to their full potential. While there are many prestigious awards, the India ITME Society promotes necessary niche categories and provides proper due diligence to the selection process. I am extremely proud to be on the jury panel and highly impressed by the caliber of nominations.”

Adding to this Mr. Updeep Singh, President & CEO, Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd stated that “Winning India ITME Awards will be an accelerator for the growth of engineering firms. The Society’s wide network will not only enhance the company’s reputation amongst the fellow industry but among the most prestigious customer industry of the sector. Credits to Society for curating such an enormous opportunity for recognition. The award formations and the precision in the collection of information for the evaluation was perfectly poised”

Application for the 2nd edition of award was opened in July 2022 with the intend appreciating the best in the industry. No stone was unturned, no shores left untouched by the society in its search to locate the best amongst the best, once all the gems were collected across the nation. Stellar jury panel evaluated and selected the one’s that shone the brightest among all the stars. Selecting the winners took 2 days long deliberations where each were put through stringent litmus test.

This year Society introduced a Textile Maestro award to honor the legendary industry leaders of our Country & bestow the deserved respect & regard to the role model who inspires all. Jury Member, Mr. R Anand, Partner, Eastern Engineering Companyopinioned “India ITME has chosen multiple avenues to remain connected with the textile industry eco system in India and overseas. The decision to recognize people in this eco system through a rigorous and independent selection process is a good initiative. India ITME underlines its position as the platform of choice for all engagements with the textile and textile engineering industries.”

Another effort to stimulate, encourage & motivate women's leadership through recognized firm, encourage & empower women to come forward & make their mark in the highly competitive textiles, apparels, textile engineering & technology segment.

Mr. Gurudas V Aras, India consultant to the ITA group, Germany and APS GmbH & Strategic Business Advisor & Mentor for many textiles & engineering businesses stated and the jury member for both the edition commented “I have been fortunate to be a jury member for the India ITME Society awards since its inception in 2019. The award nominations for both editions have simply amazed me. Having worked in our engineering sector for decades, this technology award creation by the Society was a feeling of achievement since it will yield deserving recognition to fellow Indian machinery producers. The domain-specific categories and the keen focus on encouraging women leaders by bringing extremely talented women leader’s nominations is an inspirational work done by the Society. It will be my utmost honor to continue this journey of aiding recognition and mentorship for our industry. I am sure the competition will go tougher and tougher as the success of other will inspire other competitors to further enhance their game.”

Mr. Sanjiv Lathia, Past Chairman of India ITME Society stated “India ITME is always presenting opportunities & platforms for the manufacturers and businessmen from the textile industry and the textile engineering industry. ITME Awards is another excellent opportunity for the awardee organization to showcase their innovation and build their reputation across the textile horizon globally taking advantage of ITME global connect. International exhibitors, Government representatives, Business visitors and buyers, foreign delegates, Embassy & Consulates will all be present at the Technology Award Function.”

Dr. Manisha Mathur, Joint Director, SASMIRA stated “India ITME Awards motive of felicitating and encouraging innovations, research in every edition is a remarkable feat now beknownst to all segments of textiles. They are trying to bridge the gap between academic research and industry application. With the introduction of “Research Excellence” capturing students, faculty and institutes is an encouraging work which will truly inspire more and more faculty and students to invest in finding innovative and sustainable practical solutions”

Mr. Manohar Samuel, Advisor, R&D Reliance Retail “An award is a brilliant tool to inspire excellence in a chosen domain, given the visibility and pride that come with it. They truly help organizations in benchmarking their products, processes and services with peers and also in sharpening execution skills through cross learning. Being the leading representative of the Textile Engineering sector, India ITME Society has always encouraged a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship for the sector’s growth. Conceptualizing the awards encompassing a wide spectrum - Technology, Individual and Sustainability is one such wonderful initiative. I enjoyed being amongst the elite jury and believe me, we had a tough time in drawing out winners from outstanding contributions. I wish India ITME, the award winners and all participants the very best in their journey of excellence and nation building.”

Mr. Ketan Sanghvi, Hon. Treasurer, India ITME Society “India ITME Society's goal is to promote textile machinery manufacturers in India. With the ITME awards, we are trying to create a gateway for building more visibility and recognition for our fellow technology manufacturers and inspire more investment in India for textile machinery and technology. We would also like to celebrate the increasing participation of women in leadership positions in the textile and textile engineering industries."

All the nominations were screened for their eligibility by Suvin –the technical coordinator for the event and then the summarized applications were presented to the jury for further scrutiny and selection of the winner. Mr. Avinash Mayekar, Managing Director of Suvin shared his experience over the last 2 years whereby he and his team has provided the technical know-how and format in these awards.

“I have seen India ITME society adding value in each and every activity year by year. It was a great honor to be associated with their vibrant success stories. Of course, ITME award ceremony was also a great honor to be with leaders of industry and dynamic ITME management team. Our first edition was for associations across India and in this edition we decided to give justice to the industry in all segments from research to innovation, from corporate leaders to tribal communities, from woman empowerment to green initiatives. It was real encouraging assignment with heavy weigh jury members and a great association with ITME board members.”

Mr. S. Hari Shankar, Chairman & Members of Steering committee of India International Textile Machinery Exhibitions Society along with the Jury members takes great pride & pleasure in announcing the winners as below:

1. Category 1 –Top Performance in Textile Engineering Industry

Under the Spinning segment M/S Lakshmi Machine Works. Limited is is accorded the award. Although other enterprises were neck to neck, the truly Indian make innovation in the product portfolio, systematic skill development program, and a detailed policy for quality and control introduced by Lakshmi Machine works impressed the jury members. They are producing the entire range of Spinning Machinery.

Under the Weaving & Preparatory segment Rabatex Industries is accorded the award. Rabatex brand is well known for weaving preparatory machines and has excelled a lot in coming years for producing appropriate technology and giving service support to their customers for past six decades. They are offering sampling machines, sectional warping machines, rewinding machines to the textile industry

Under Finishing segment Texfab Engineers (India) Pvt. Ltd. is accorded the award. Texfab is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of fabric finishing machine, fabric dyeing machine. Having strong customer service support and being a 100% Indian organization jury members have selected them as a winner in this category.

Under printing segment ColorJet India Ltd. emerged as a winner due to innovative concept developed within India which is now gaining a lot of importance in overseas market. Colorjet digital printing machine have also adopted green concept in producing and promoting digital printing machines.

Under the Accessories for entire textile machinery segment Lakshmi Card Clothing Manufacturing Company Private Limited is selected as a winner mainly due to their excellent service support innovative product range and stringent quality control systems for spinning industry.

2. Category 2 - Best Initiatives for Pollution Control Technology

Under this category S. A. Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd is accorded the award.

The company has developed a supporting recycling technology system. The technology under nomination was a Size recovery and reuse system from de-size wash liquor, a Caustic purification system after mercerization wash liquor, and Indigo dye recovery and reuse. The initiative is fruitfully answering the call of industry. It is also an established product offering water saving with a strong customer base for all three products. 3. Category 3 - Special Award for WomenThe nominations received under this category were truly inspiring under different domains. All the winning women have created their mark in specialized area's and are the inspiration for many women going forward. The jury and the India ITME Society seeing the caliber of these women and their dedication declared special categories to award these talented women who have overcome the odds of society and reached new heights. The special women awarded are as follows:

• Women Entrepreneur - Under this category Ms. Deepa A Kumar is accorded the award.

  Ms. Deepa A Kumar is the Founder & CEO of Yashram Lifestyle Brands. Her product’s regular & technical innerwear like period panties, incontinence innerwear for the elderly, leak proof nursing bras for breastfeeding moms, maternity hygiene panties to prevent UTI during pregnancy & more are curated to resolve the pressing matters of the women of today. Her product is also patented in India and USA as well since 2009.

  Winner Ms. Deepa A Kumar Women, Entrepreneur

  She is also an active socially responsible individual engrossed in many social projects, especially her work at www.HowToTellYourChild.com has been appreciated by the likes of UNESCO. Being a woman founder, she ensures that the less privileged women from our country are given a chance to earn a livelihood. So through her company's initiatives around 40 women from a small town in Andhra Pradesh were firstly given training & later on provided employment.
• Nurturing Women Empowerment - Under this Category Ms. Neha Jhunjhunwala, Director, Sarla Performance Fibers Ltd. is accorded the award.

  Ms. Neha 3rd generation in the business, began with just one objective - to upgrade the company from a successful family run company of 3 decades to an Indian MNC. From focusing on building a brand image for her organization to cater in the B2B & B2C sector she is passionate to canvass India's brand name in performance textiles on global platforms. Neha truly believes in the power of equity and so under her leadership the company is appreciating & hiring more women at all levels. Early this year, the company hired a lady as plant head, a profile that is predominantly a male domain across the textile industry. Her actions are deserving of the title women empowerment.

  Ms. Neha Jhunjhunwala, Winner Nurturing Women Empowerment

• Woman Master Weaver - Under this Category Ms. Santoshi Kewat is accorded the award.

  Ms. Santoshi may not have been a director of multi INR companies but have managed to thrive & shine bright with her leadership qualities. Being just 8th std pass academically she had today managed to become a certified master weaver. She also took initiative of bring many other women from her village and training them the skills and creating a source of income for the other women. Her initiative has helped in the revival of the traditional handloom art form. She is also a director of the SHG group and a master weaver of Maheshwari Creations which is a specialized handloom saree, dupatta & bedsheet enterprise.

  Winner Ms. Santoshi Kewat, Women Master Weaver

• Restoring Traditional Skills - Under this category Ms. Kumari Raita is accorded the award.

  Ms. Kumari Raita was not society-privileged economically or educationally but today is contributing towards reviving traditional textiles & inspiration for women to become self-dependent and create a name of their own. She belongs to a Particular Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) belonging to the Soura Community in the Gajapati district of Odisha state. She has learned carpet making in a limited period and has created an example for other girls from her society. The traditional hand-weaved carpet which was a dying Tibetan art form that will now be kept alive, especially among the Soura PVTG’s credits to her efforts and hard work.

  Ms. Kumari Raita, winner – Restoring Traditional Skills

4. Category 4 - Research Excellence - Under this category Dr. Rekha Ramakrishnan from SASMIRA is accorded the award.

The nominations for this category amazed the jury members. The research result, future impact, practical application, cost effectiveness, were the main criteria for selecting the winner. Depth of research was also thoroughly examined. The relevance of research conducted by the institutes was truly commended by the jury members. The jury members quoted “The young R& D wing of India is in a great shape”. The winner of this category was “Dr. Rekha Ramakrishnan, from SASMIRA Institute for her research topic - Supercritical Carbon- dioxide based waterless Pre-treatment Technology for Cotton. The topic being innovative, sustainable solution and leading to saving of water utility raked higher above the other categories.

Winner for Research Excellence Dr. Rekha Ramakrishnan from SASMIRA institute

5. Category 5 - Textile Maestro - Under this category Mr. S P Oswal, Chairman & Managing Director, Vardhman Group of Companies is accorded the award.

There will not be a single person in the industry unfamiliar with the marvelous work done by the maestro. The word Maestro perfectly sync’s with the legend. Being honored with the most prestigious award Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 2010 for his services to the fields of trade and industry, Enlisted among India’s Best CEOs (2017), Udyog Ratna by Ph.D. Chamber of Commerce & Industries in 2005 and Lakshya Business Visionary Award by the National Institute of Industrial Engineering in 2019, the India ITME Society being an active driver for the society would like to humbly recognize the stalwart with a small token of our appreciation. He is a true industrialist for our textile industry. A gold medalist from his university, he has provided guidance and vision that has seen the empire of textiles rise in India.

Textile Maestro Winner Mr. S P Oswal (Pic courtesy: Vardhman Group Website)

It was his contribution that has strengthen the spinning industry of India. He is also regarded as the force behind the establishment of the Ludhiana Stock Exchange in 1983. Apart from leading the Vardhman Group into a position of prominence in the Indian business milieu, his tremendous dedication to social initiatives has helped in the upliftment of society. Village adoption programs in the state of Punjab, Sri Aurobindo College of commerce and management are a few of his social programs that have levitated the society economically and developed skilled knowledgeable youths for generations. The awards will be presented on 10th December 2022 at India Exposition Mart at the highly prestigious CEO Conclave -“Empowering Textiles through Technology”. CEO conclave is an interactive closed-loop forum conceptualized to bring together high-level decision-makers from Government & eminent industry leaders from India and key stake holders from across the globe. The conclave will have representation from Overseas Delegates, Government Officials, and CEO & Managing Directors of top-notch Indian & International Textile & Textile Machinery companies. India ITME Society in order to create deserved recognition of the achievements for all its winners will be presenting the awards in the presence of the very best from all the stake holders of the textile industry. In order to give due credits to the winner, the society will be presenting them with a token of appreciation in the form of a trophy and certificate along with Cash price to appreciate the efforts of the awardee's work.

“Every edition of India ITME Society awards will try to do justice and grow bigger, better & bolder by introducing strategic categories and reaching a wider audience. The credit for the growth of the awards goes to none other than the fellow participants themselves. It is their dedication and hard work that add value to the award categories. We are grateful for all the applications received which were exceptional in their domain. We also thank every applicant for their belief in the society and urge all the other fellow companies to participate in the next edition and help us build a bigger and bolder award ceremony during the next editions

Mr. Hari Shankar, Chairman, India ITME Society

Sincere appreciation goes to the elite jury panel who took time out of their busy schedule to help us ensure smooth and unbiased decision making” India ITME Society through this prestigious awards has again remained true to its industry label of being a torch bearer for the engineering sector in textiles. Today once again when our industry is coming back on track post the unseen pandemic effects, society is making the much-needed effort to recognize the vastly evolving textile engineering sector, the innovative researcher & the women power of 2022. Visit India ITME 2022 from 8th – 13th December 2022 at India Exposition Mart Limited, Greater Noida, U.P.