Good market for environment-frieldly textile products

Hyderabad, Apr 8 (UNI) With cotton textiles trade world-wide rising 7.7 per cent during 2004-05, India had great potential to step up its present annual growth rate of 10 per cent by promoting export of high value ethnic and eco-friendly textile products, Speakers at a seminar here today said.

The world was looking for environment-friendly food as well as non-food products and the country needs to concentrate on production of organic cotton-based products by using organic yarn, vegetable dyes and safety equipments, they said at the seminar on ''Emerging Opportunities in Fashion and Technology'' organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation and the National Institute of Fashion Technology at the HITEX.

''We are different from China and we need to project Brand India and dispel the notion that only poor quality products are produced with cheap labour in India'' said Dr Asha Bakshi, Dean, Academics, NIFT.

For Microenterprises, the growing 250 million strong Indian Middle class with better disposable incomes and high value buying patterns offered a big opportunity as also the fact that India accounted for 45 per cent of the world's young population, said Dr Annaji Sarma, Association Professor, NIFT.

Describing fashion business as more cyclical, seasonal, changing and creative, he said there was scope for high mark-ups as well as markdowns. When in vogue make merry and when out of fashion offer huge discounts.

The removal of quotas had opened up the vast global market, but the weak labour laws and imposition non-tariff barriers by developed countries posed a threat, Oxfam(India)trust Programme Officer Amit Vatsyayan said and called for work processes free from child labour and the one that recognised gender equality.

UNI SM VV AK1852