Born in 1978- Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) is a
sponsored body under the Ministry of Textiles. Build and lived to its mandate
of Apparel and Garments export promotions in India; it tells the saga of the
bygone era. From just being a quota
monitoring entity, AEPC is today a powerful body for the promotion and
facilitation of garment manufacturing and their exports. AEPC is endowed with
the power to create myth, transcending moments of apparel export history as a
narrative of extraordinary time. This body has recorded amazing kaleidoscopic
breadth of events– witness of good and bad business environment. AEPC has often
triumphant in the cause of promoting apparel export with the cooperation and
stupendous talent of exports across India. Initially started with a just one
office, with a passage of time it has grown to be the largest Export Promotion
Council having membership of nearly 8000 from amongst large Corporate Houses,
Star Trading Houses, Small & Medium Scale Units (SME), Trading Houses, etc.
Out of the total membership of the Council, 85% constitutes the SMEs.
AEPC is the official body of apparel exporters in India that
provides invaluable assistance to Indian exporters as well as
importers/international buyers who choose India as their preferred sourcing
destination for garments. For Indian
exporters, AEPC is quite literally a one-stop shop for information; advise,
technical guidance, workforce and market intelligence. Members have access to
updated trade statistics, potential markets, information on international fairs
and assistance in participating at these fairs. It also plays a large role in
identifying new markets and leading trade delegations to various countries. In
recent years AEPC has worked tirelessly in integrating the entire industry -
starting at the grass root level of training the workforce and supplying a
steady stream of man power to the industry; identifying the best countries to
source machinery and other infrastructure and brokering several path breaking
deals for its members and finally helping exporters to showcase their best at
home fairs as well as be highly visible at international fairs the world over.
The steady growth in the production and exports of apparel
and garments from India has been the continuous journey of innovation and
setting up quality standards in manufacturing and delivering services. This is
evident as an ISO 9001:2000 and SA:8000 certified organization. Right from its
inception organization been insisting the exporting community on the quality
parameter – and the Council itself has the distinction for designing and
execution of exhibition management services and provision of specialized
management, educational, consulting and public relation services to apparel
industry. As part of its philanthropic and skill development activity AEPC is
working a strong supply chain for boosting the apparel industry. Today, AEPC
runs 106 Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC) and more than 85,000
students trained mainly from weaker section of Society. It also manages the
Institutes of Apparel Management (IAM) – “India’s First Apparel Multi Varsity”
campus in Gurgaon. ATDC has emerged as India’s largest vocational Training
Network for the Apparel Sector with over 75 ATDCs including 25 ATDC-IGNOU
Community Colleges and over 50 SMART Centers and Skill Camps at present in
major Apparel clusters spread across 20 states Pan India. ATDC’s aim is to train skilled workforce for
the rapidly growing export and domestic sectors of the Apparel Industry and
upgrade the technical skills to improve quality, productivity and efficiency in
a global context.
Institutes of Apparel Management was established in 2007
with an intention to create professionals for “Business of Fashion” for
Fashion, Textiles & Lifestyle Industry. IAM has been very instrumental to
train Designers, Design Professionals, Design Managers, Designer Merchandisers,
Quality Professionals etc. with a broad base knowledge of applied Management
skills, competencies & understanding the dynamics of Apparel business in
global context. IAM has for the first time in India developed the most
contemporary and sought after Full time programmes and an array of Modular CE
programmes which will give every individual an opportunity to upgrade their
professional skills, key competencies & knowledge by moving up in the
knowledge value chain.
AEPC’s ‘Skill Assessment Cell’ is setup with an objective to
identify and consider the skill certification for early school leavers and
existing workers, especially working in the unorganized sector. The project
works in association with Ministry of Labour & Employment it seeks to
develop a new strategic framework for skill development in close consultation
with industries. This initiative is helping in boosting the morale, and
uplifting the social status of workforce. Now AEPC Assessment Cell has done an
assessment approximately of 1500 candidates. In order to make India a world
class sourcing hub for apparel industry project DISHA (Driving Industry towards
Sustainable Human Advancement) was started. This is an initiative of AEPC under
umbrella of MOT for facilitating & preparing Indian apparel manufacturers
towards becoming more socially and environmentally responsible industry. The
programme aims at capacity building of the SMEs on apparel sector through
cluster level and unit level trainings on gap assessment and remediation of the
same.
In the current fiscal year apparel exporters are facing
problem in getting more orders as the rupee is falling and possibility of
getting business from US and EU is little hazy. Some of the SMEs are not able
to utilize the 60% of installed capacity, which in turn is affecting their
profitability. Decline in orders and less utilization of installed capacity,
stiff competition from south Asian and south East Asian nations are the major
reasons for the lost in jobs. If we look at the import of major market like USA
and EU which contributed 80% of our total export to world have registered
decline in volume wise import which suggests that in term of quantity export
are not increasing which is affecting the orders. Decline in order leads to the
shutting down of the units subsequently loss in jobs and business.
To resist the jolt of world economic crisis we have made
certain strategies where in we are emphasizing the diversification of market
base. To diversify the market this year
we are organizing mega show in Tokyo, Japan which is the third largest importer
in world and India’s share in import is less than 1%. Success of this show may
bring huge apparel business to India as Indian has already concluded
India-Japan CEPA and has become effective since August 2011. Under the agreement duty free apparel import
has been allowed in Japan since August 2011. We are organizing buyer’s seller
meet in Tel Aviv, Israel; Barcelona and Madrid in Spain and New York in USA. We
have also planned mega apparel show called magic fair in USA.
AEPC resourcefulness to take calculated risk braving all
odds, perceptible across all circumstances, is the key fuel for the India’s
apparel export growth. With AEPC’s expertise and initiatives India’s apparel
exports are sure to grow stronger each year in their achievements, skills and
proficiency, while international buyers get superior solutions for their
garments exports.
No comments:
Post a Comment