Mr. Pratik Bachkaniwala, Chairman’s Welcome Address:

held on Thursday, 21^st September 2023 at 6.00 p.m. at “ITME CENTER”, Dalamal Tower, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021.

Announces 30 second silence in the honor of Late Mr. Vallabh Thumar – Immediate Past Chairman TMMA (CMD Weavetech Group) and Mr. Vipan Kohli – Jt. Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles

Respected Dr. Navneet Mohan Kothari (IAS), Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (MPIDC), Mr. Sunil Patwari – Chairman, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, (Texprocil) and MD of Nagreeka Exports Ltd. my colleagues on the dais, distinguished guests, and friends.

I extend a hearty welcome to all of you to the 63^rd Annual General Meeting of Textile Machinery Manufacturers’ Association (India).

I am grateful to Dr. Navneet Mohan Kothari (IAS), MD, MPIDC, and Mr. Sunil Patwari – Chairman, Texprocil and MD of Nagreeka Exports Ltd., for accepting our invitation despite their busy schedule, as the Chief Guest and Guest of Honor respectively. I extend a warm welcome to both and would like to have their valuable advice and guidance to make the Textile Engineering Industry vibrant.

Before moving our Annual Report and the audited statement of accounts for approval of the members, I would like to brief about the Indian TEI in general and enumerate the role of the association in the year gone by.

The Year Gone By

In the word of economists, there are certain thumb rules to follow to gauge the direction of the world economies in the broader sense. Since, USA is the No. 1 economy, and most of the countries depend on it for their overall GDP growth, an impact positive or negative on USA’s economy, translates into the performance of the other economies. For example: if there is recession in the US Market, there will be recession in the other countries as well. If the federal bank of USA prints money, there will be inflation and if it tightens/ raises the repo rate, the stock markets will perform lesser than the bond market. This has been the norm since the great recession of 1929, until the subprime crisis of 2008, that gripped the world economy for years to come to recover. The complete lock down of economies in 2020 was perhaps an aberration due to Covid-19 pandemic. However, the trend is changing this time around as the world is shifting its focus from the bipolar world to the multipolar world; from a US Dollar based economy to the bilateral/ multilateral currencies-based economies.

Since the beginning of the 2022-23, the world attention was gripped on the Ukraine-Russia war. Logics after logics, that, Russia will conquer Ukraine in 10 days; Europe will kneel before Russia for its supply of Oil & Gas; learning from these, China will invade and conquer Taiwan; likewise, India will recapture Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) by attacking Pakistan; and thereby a world war will grip countries after countries like a domino, were broken. Nothing of that sort happened. Rather, there was a sense of maturity (greed) and responsibility (not in my backyard) shown by the very actors who created this problem. In a layman’s point of view, Ukraine became the guinea pig to be experimented for the entire world to bear witness the realm that ‘Self-Interest (Country’s)’ should be the motive behind any country’s foreign policy and international relations. There are neither permanent allies nor permanent enemies, rather it’s pure business that rules. Very unfortunately, Ukraine has become the biggest loser in this Great Game of the East (Russia+) and the West (USA/Europe+), by letting its soil used for testing the egos of the two sides. The West kept on funding East for this war in Ukraine by secretly buying its oil and gas through neutral countries like India. And the East kept on subconsciously marketing the technologically superior arms and ammunitions of the West to the rest of the world.

But this war crisis has been the blessing in disguise for it helped tame the hawkishness of the countries like China & USA who may not like to have yet another ‘Vietnam Moment’ in other sovereign lands of the world. Also, it has given rise to a multipolar world, wherein India leads the ‘Non-Aligned Movement’ among the countries who don’t pay any attention to the biggies of the world. They are self-centered & busy enough in their efforts to raise the standard of living and increase the GDPs of their countries; and create a new world order, where in mutual respect, sharing best practices and self-sustenance prevail.

The Indian digital payment system- Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is embraced by countries like France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Singapore, Maldives, Bhutan, and Oman. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed businesses to transact in Indian National Rupee (INR) with countries like Germany, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Singapore, UK, and Russia. Besides, there are many countries of Southeast Asian, Central Asian, and African origin, who have lined up either to transact in UPI or INR. The leadership of India is on the rise undoubtedly, wherein, the supremacy of USA, Russia, China, and Europe put together is on the decline. Though, they may remain militarily and financially stronger, but not as true leaders.

In the gone fiscal the US Federal Bank increased the repo rate almost 10 times, yet their stock market fared well and so on the other economies. The Indian economy showed resilience, embracing for a stable GDP growth of 6.5%+, and becoming the 5th largest economy (USD 3.53 trillion) in the world overtaking UK (USD 3.38 trillion) in Sep 2022. And having been forecast of a stable 7% GDP growth, India is set to take over Germany to become 4th largest economy by 2025 or much earlier.

There had been challenges on the export front and sourcing of the high-end equipment and critical components by the domestic industry in India due to this global turmoil, logistics and supply chain issues. But a strong and vibrant domestic market stayed the indigenous industry afloat during this difficult time. The three parameters to measure the pulse of the industry i.e., domestic production, export and import reflected positive numbers throughout the year. The sensitivities related to the global uncertainties still prevail, however, a populous & rising native economy is set to derive sustainable growth for the industry.

Therefore, I would term the gone fiscal as the ‘Year of Logic Defying Phenomenon’!

Production-Export-Import Trends

The production of the Textile Engineering Industry (TEI) registered a sizable increase of 24% viz. Rs.14,412 crores in 2022-23 as against Rs.11,658 crores achieved during 2021-22. Except for the Textile Testing & Measuring Instruments, and Hosiery Machines/ Hosiery Needles Segments, which recorded -16% and -8% production, rest all other industry segments reported positive turnover during the fiscal year. Though there was bit sluggishness during the Q2 of the fiscal due to the Ukraine-Russia war and global uncertainties, majority of the industry segments picked up the upward trend in the subsequent quarters. Both greenfield and brown field projects were acquired by the industry. Unlike last year, domestic industry’s capacity utilization was around 90% down from 100% and the industry was able to achieve up to 24% of their annual turnover as compared to 2021-22. Specifically, indigenous production witnessed a sharper upward trend as compared to import & export which was a healthy sign of the domestic production capacities and capabilities.

The exports of textile machinery jumped by 21% during the year as compared to the preceding year. Based on the data furnished by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata, the export of Indian TEI stood at Rs. 5183 crores in 2022-23 from Rs. 4295 crores in 2021-22. TMMA assessed export performance of the Indian TEI from the private source as well and found that TEI exports for the 2022-23 was Rs.7036 crores as against Rs. 5572 crores achieved during 2021-22.

On the other hand, imports spiralled up alarmingly by 61% due to enhanced domestic demand of the user industry. Based on the data procured from the DGCI&S, Kolkata, the import of the Indian TEI stood at Rs. 20718 crores in 2022-23 as compared to Rs. 12892 crores in 2021-22. It was assessed from the private source as well that showed the TEI imports for the 2022-23 to be Rs. 23804 crores as against Rs. 15115 crores achieved during 2021-22 period.

Measures for Growth Orientation

The estimated capacity of the domestic TEI was increased to Rs.15,500 crores in 2022-23 from Rs. 12500 in 2021-22. The production was Rs.14412 crores as against Rs. 11658 crores during the previous year. In the last three fiscal years the capacity utilization was doubled from 46% in 2020-21 to almost 100% in 2021-22 and 91% in the 2022-23 perhaps due to the pent-up demand, rising cost of raw materials etc.

The Amended Technology Upgradation Fund (ATUF) Scheme was concluded on 31st March 2022, with a total of 14392 UIDs generated, having provisional subsidy Rs. 4963.25 crores, and project cost of Rs. 69163.03 crores. During 2022-23, a sum of Rs 950 crores was allocated by the government to meet the committed liabilities of the ATUF scheme and the previous schemes such as RRTUF, RTUF and MTUF in the subsequent months.

During the year, the office of the textile commissioner coordinated and processed the ATUF Scheme efficiently. Since the scheme was concluded, only a limited number of cases related to the enlistment of textile machine manufacturers, induction of new machine types in the ATUF scheme and the release of ATUF subsidy were tabled. To quantify the efforts, a total of 23 Internal Technical Committee (ITC) meetings chaired by the Joint Textile Commissioner, 6 Technical Advisory Committee Meetings (TAMC) meetings chaired by the Textile Commissioner, and 3 Inter Ministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) meetings chaired by the HMoT; were held in 2022-23.

Though the MoT, cleared the TUF subsidy cases to its best possible capability, keeping all checks and balances and meeting legal parameters after satisfying the textile industry in majority of the cases; one thing it conveyed clearly that the government wasn’t going to launch/ relaunch any TUF kind of subsidy. Also, being the WTO complaint, the country won’t be able to bring out such a scheme. Hence, there was scope for newer mechanism to promote the indigenous manufacturing.

Earlier, the Government had launched ambitious schemes such as Technical Textiles, PM MITRA Parks, Technical Textile Mission, and Production Linked Incentives (PLI) for the textile industry. However, it was felt that the MSMEs and the Textile Machinery Industry should also be brought under similar schemes for the technology development and import substitution to promote “Make in India”.

Therefore, a series of meetings were held among the government, industry, and academia to define the contours of the new scheme that would replace the ATUF scheme. The association is closely working in this regard with the MoT to bring out a new scheme that shall benefit both the textile and the textile machinery industry.

Our respected Chief Guest, Dr. Navneet Mohan Kothari (IAS), MD-MPIDC would be able to brief you about the same in his address shortly.

Besides we shall have the honor to listen to Mr. Sunil Patwari, our Guest of Honor on the Textile Industry’s strategy for India@2047.

 Acknowledgement

I shall be laying down my office as Chairman of the Association at the conclusion of this Annual General Meeting. I thank my co-office Bearers, Mr. M. Sankar, Mr. Prashant Mangukia, and Mr. Shailesh Wani without whose active assistance, I would not have been able to discharge my duties. I thank my colleagues on the Executive Council for their support. I thank the members of the Association for giving me an opportunity to serve the industry as the Chairman.

I congratulate Mr. M. Sankar, the incoming Chairman and his co-Office Bearers, Mr. M. Shankar, Mr. Prashant Mangukia and Mr. Chintan Thumar and wish them a successful tenure. I would like to sincerely thank the past chairmen of TMMA for all their help and guidance – in particular; Late Mr. Vallabh Thumar, Mr. Mehul Trivedi, Mr. R. Rajendran, Mr. Prakash Bhagwati, Mr. Rajnikant Bachkaniwala, and others who helped me during my tenure.

I would like to thank the ITAMMA, India ITME Society for their unstinted support in the activities of TMMA. In conclusion, I appreciate the excellent work rendered by the Secretariat of TMMA led by our Executive Director – Mr. Sachin Kumar.

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Export and R&D Awards

It is our normal practice to present the Export and R&D Awards at the Annual Session of the Association. In this Session, we are giving Awards for Export Excellence, segment wise export performance awards and Awards for R&D for the year 2022-23. I congratulate the award winners in advance for putting in great efforts in the promotion of exports and the development made in textile engineering arena.

Immediately after our business session, I would request our Chief Guest Dr. Navneet Mohan Kothari (IAS), MD, MPIDC, and Mr. Sunil Patwari, Chairman Texprocil and Managing Director of Nagreeka Exports Ltd., representing MP Government and our user industry respectively, to present the Awards to winners and address the gathering.

Thank you all.

Special Address by Mr. Sunil Patwari, Chairman, TEXPROCIL as the Guest of Honour at AGM of TMMA on 21.09.2023

 Chief Guest Shri Sanjay Kumar Shukla (IAS), Principal Secretary, Govt. of MP, Department of Industrial Policy & Investment Promotion (DIPP).

 Shri Pratik Bachkaniwala, Chairman, TMMA (India)

 Shri M. Sankar, Senior Vice Chairman, TMMA (India)

 Shri Sachin Kumar Arora, Executive Director, TMMA (India)

 Other Dignitaries on Dais,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

• It is my pleasure to be present here. I am glad to see many colleagues from textile industry. The presence of our young generation is really something very encouraging.
• As envisaged by our Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi Ji, India will join the league of developed countries by 2047 when the nation will be celebrating hundred years of independence.
• The Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal Ji has urged the Indian textile industry to think big and set accelerated and aggressive targets, with a vision to achieve transformative changes by 2047.
• Particularly, the textiles and apparel industry is regarded as a major player in the Indian economy. With the fast growth of Indian economy due to a large young-age population in the working age group, the size of Indian textile market is also expected to grow rapidly.
• It is expected that India will produce textiles of value US $ 300 billion by 2030 out of this approximately 200 billion will be consumed within India and exports will be 100 billion. It may be noted the present size of the textile industry is approximately 150 billion.
• The exports of textile are expected to grow from present level of approximately 40 billion to 100 billion by 2030. This growth would be supported by the aggressive conclusion of FTAs by the Government and the China plus one sourcing policy adopted by the western world.
• The Government is also implementing schemes like PLI, PM MITRA Textile Parks, Gati Shakti, etc. to encourage quick growth of the country’s manufacturing capacity. In addition to this different States are implementing their own textile policies. India is already present in all segments of textiles, covering the entire value chain and covering all fibres.
• The present opportunity to grow the market size from 150 billion to 300 billion will require huge investment of approximately 75 billion dollars in the textile industry and will require improving the availability of raw materials to scale-up production. This is also an opportunity for the textile manufacturers of our country to expand their product and services offered to the industry.
• We are sure they will utilise their vast experience to offer machines utilising latest technology in terms of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to achieve greater automation, high levels of productivity, and to offer best quality with lowest use of inputs and resources. This will encourage the Indian textile industry to invest more in the new machinery and recover their investments efficiently and in good time.
• In the recently held ITMA 2023 exhibition in Milan, Italy during 8-14 June, one could see the focus of different machine makers on these aspect of technology. With the new slogan of ‘Reduce, Recycle and Reuse’ there is now an even greater focus on sustainability.
• We are living in the era of Fourth Industrial revolution where AI and Machine learning are sweeping the entire landscape and India cannot afford to be slow mover.
• The Government has also planned for a Mega Textile Show to be held in New Delhi from 26-29 February 2024 to showcase India as the best source of textiles including textile machinery to the world.
• At TEXPROCIL we are working closely with the Government to achieve 5F Vision: from farm to fibre, to fabric, to fashion and to foreign. The Council promotes wide range of products including raw cotton, along with yarn, fabrics and home textiles of cotton and blended varieties.
• The Government is also working towards improving the farm productivity with various projects been undertaken with collaboration between the Textile and Agricultural Ministries. The Government has also launched the initiative to Brand cotton grown on Indian farms as ‘Kasturi Cotton India’. The industry will have access to a certified high quality cotton for making value added products for the world.
• We also believe that the country’s manmade segment is also gearing up to increase its capacity and capability from fibre to finish products. It may be noted that out of China’s total exports, manmade has a majority share and further their export of fabrics accounts for almost fifty percent of their total exports.
• To summarize, we as an industry are at the cusp and we are poised for huge growth for a bigger and better future. The textile manufacturing industry looks to TMMA to participate actively in achieving this national goal. Thank You! Once again to one and all and my best wishes to the TMMA TEAM in all their future endeavours.

Chief Guest Dr. Navneet Mohan Kothari’s Keynote Address for TMMA Annual General Meeting Date – 21^st Sep 2023

➢ At the onset, I would like to welcome you all on behalf of Madhya Pradesh.

➢ Madhya Pradesh has already created the blueprint for achieving a $ 550 billion SGDP whilst laying emphasis on technology-driven economy and with a focus over enhancing productivity in all the sectors including textiles.

➢ Textile was the 7th most traded product globally in 2021 and India stood as the 4th largest exporter of textiles during that period with $41.4 Billion. Madhya Pradesh recognizes the importance of this sector and is leaving no stone unturned to contribute to India’s accelerate the growth of exports in this sector.

➢ Under the leadership of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state has experienced multi-dimensional growth across industries especially in Textiles. The State has increased its value of textile exports from ~ INR 1,378 Crore in FY 2007 to INR 15,537 Crore in FY 2022 witnessing a 11 times growth in exports alone.

➢ The State has undertaken a massive turnabout in garment exports from merely INR 51 Crores in FY2007 to INR 4,496 Crores in FY22 with an 88 times growth.

➢ Madhya Pradesh is the major cotton producer (6th in 19-20) in India and produces 24% of the organic cotton of the world. The abundance of raw material, a peaceful labour force, surplus power and sector specific policy for textile and garments have made the state a vibrant textile hub. The State is home to several textile and garment units including Gokaldas, Best Corp., Trident, Vardhman, Pratibha Syntex, Bhaskar Denim, Burhanpur Textile, Kashida Apparels, New Zeel Fashions, and Avgol amongst others spread across the value chain including Ginning, Spinning, Weaving, Fabric manufacturing, Printing, Dyeing and Garmenting.

➢ Madhya Pradesh is competing not only to achieve the top slot in textile production and exports in the nation but is directing its efforts to position itself a leading hub for textiles and with the upcoming PM MITRA Park across at 1563 acres at Bhensola, Dhar shall further add to State’s inherent strengths in this sector to achieve “Farm to Fiber to Fabric to Fashion to Foreign”

➢ The upcoming PM Mitra Park in Dhar is to be constructed with a world-class industrial infrastructure, and excellent connectivity via rail, road and air, shall Place Madhya Pradesh amongst the leading destinations for domestic and global investors to anchor their bases and expand their business canvass whilst creating enormous employment opportunities especially for women in the region.

➢ State’s aim is to enhance the business ecosystem. The industries department is promoting investments in the State through captivating policies, good governance, and enhanced ease of doing business.

➢ Madhya Pradesh has bagged the highest amount of investment, to the tune of INR 3,513 crore under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the textile sector which is a clear exhibit of the investor’s inclination for the State in this sector

➢ The academia-industry gap is further being narrowed down through the presence of premium institutes like NIFT, Bhopal, NID, Bhopal and IIITDM in Jabalpur to constantly add to the existing skilled workforce in the State.

Closing Remarks

➢ In line with the umbrella vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Government of Madhya Pradesh is creating enabling eco-system for industries to achieve self-reliance. Rest assured, the industries department is always proactive in resolving the queries of the investor community and providing land at the earliest time to kick start their operations. The state has a transparent and accountable institution in place and is highly perceptive to the investor community to resolve their bottlenecks.

➢ Under the dynamic leadership of the visionary Chief Minister, Shri. Shivraj Singh Chouhan Ji, the investors can run their business hassle-free and venture their growth story in the State.

➢ I extend an invitation to all of you to discover the opportunities awaiting in Madhya Pradesh for your future ventures. Your participation, as manufacturers of textile machinery, will undoubtedly enhance the textile industry’s significance. The presence of your machinery manufacturing units will boost the garment sector, empowering it and contributing to an efficient ecosystem. This would be diminishing the dependency on imports and accelerate the growth of textile sector.

➢ On the behalf of the State, I again invite you to take part in the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s vision of achieving $550 billion GDP for Madhya Pradesh, the future ready state of India.