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India ITME 2004: A unique textile engineering showcase

E-Tex Staff, Mumbai

The 7th India International Textile Machinery Exhibition - INDIA ITME 2004 - has received overwhelming response from manufacturers of textile machinery and components across the globe. India ITME 2004 is scheduled to be held from December 4-11, 2004 in Mumbai, India.

Response overwhelming

India ITME 2004 covers a gross area of 50,000 sq mtrs distributed in four compact halls at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (East), Mumbai, India. There are over 725 exhibitors consisting of 425 Indian and 300 foreign participants. It is expected that the business visitors to the exhibition will exceed 1,20,000. India ITME 2004 has attracted exhibitors from more than 25 overseas countries including Austria, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, USA and so on. Though there is continuing high demand for space booking from national and international exhibitors, the exhibition authority is unable to accommodate any more participants due to paucity of exhibition space.

The annual production of textile machinery is about US $ 20 billion. The major share of global production is concentrated in the developed countries like Germany, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Japan and the UK. The other producers are China, India, Taiwan and Korea.

Outlook bright

It is heartening to note that with the revival of the textile industry the outlook for the textile machinery industry has brightened. The Indian participants in India ITME 2004 include all the premier producers of machinery, components and accessories. Similarly, all the prominent makers of textile engineering products from abroad have also booked space in India ITME 2004.

The ring spinning capacity around the globe is around 175 million spindles. Of this about 160 million spindles (90%) are located in Asia, Oceania, East Europe, Latin America, Africa and other developing countries. Similarly out of about 8.30 million open end rotors, about 6 million (70%) is accounted for by these countries. In the case of weaving, shuttlelooms in the world number 4 million and shuttleless looms 0.75 million. The population of these looms is also distributed predominantly in the southern hemisphere.

Heavy investments likely

It is estimated that about 40 million spindles would require replacement in the coming years. Similarly, in the weaving sector the obsolete capacity is estimated as 1.5 million shuttlelooms. The finishing capacity will also account for about 30% obsolescence. With the dismantling of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing from January 2005, the textile industry has to gear itself to compete in a globally integrated market. This will call for heavy investments in all segments of the textile industry and accordingly the opportunity for the textile machinery and component sectors will broaden.

India ITME 2004 is a unique showcase targeted towards the textile and clothing industries of South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East, Africa, CIS, China and the Latin American countries. It enables the textile millowners, managing directors, chief executive officers, presidents, general managers, senior textile executives, production engineers, textile technicians and all those connected with the textile industry to interact with the leading producers and the latest

technological updates in the textile engineering industry. A visit to the show will be of immense benefit to the textile mills in their modernisation and expansion programmes.

Unique showcase

The Federation of Indian Textile Engineering Industry (FITEI) has organized a special seminar on December 8, 2004 at the exhibition venue on topics of special interest. Indian and foreign speakers will make expert presentations at the seminar. The details of the seminar will be available in our website. The visitors to the exhibition will be highly rewarded by the event.

Mr G T Dembla, chairman, India ITME Society observes, “All textile industrialists and businessmen are invited to visit India ITME 2004 for reaping high benefits. The exhibition is taking place in that part of the globe which is emerging as the clothier of the world. The exhibition is of great relevance and importance especially to the textile producing countries like China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey and Africa nations like Kenya, South Africa and so on”.

Gloom to boom

The importance of India ITME 2004 is heightened by the fact that frontier free trade will open up from January 2005 and the textile industry is emerging from gloom to boom. The executive director, Mr C V Radhakrishnan had this to say: “This exhibition is the engine for sharpening global trade in textiles. It is taking place on the threshold of a major textile transformation. The technological showcase - India ITME 2004 - will spur textile magnates to identify and go for investment in high speed, productivity oriented, environmental friendly, cost effective equipments in their search for measures to face fierce global competition”.