Guj garment association in talks with AEPC for export enhancement

The body is also making efforts to increase volume and quality

In a bid to enhance their share of apparel exports, the Gujarat based garmenters are in talks with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) on ways to expand quality and volume.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 21st Gujarat Garment Manufacturers' Association (GGMA) National Garment Fair, the association's president Vijay Purohit said, "Currently, Gujarat's share in the country's apparel exports is hardly two per cent and quite negligible. We are so far mostly dependent on the domestic market. We are therefore in talks with the AEPC to enhance our exports share. Our target is to contribute at least 10 per cent of India's apparel exports in next 3-4 years."

In order to enhance exports, GGMA is also making efforts to increase volume and quality.

For this, the association has been demanding space at subsidised rate for an apparel park.

"The Gujarat government has been supportive enough to allot a 57000 sq metres of land in an old mill in Rakhial area of Ahmedabad. However, we are demanding subsidised rates for these spaces in the apparel park. We believe once the apparel park is up, it will help us boost volumes in garmenting as well as bring in consistency in quality," said Purohit.

Once up, the apparel park will house at least 500 large garmenting units and result in revenue of worth hundreds of crores of rupees.

GGMA was also bullish about the three-day garment fair. As against a B2B footfall of 18500 last year, this year GGMA is expecting more than 20000 B2B customers visiting over 150 stalls in three days.

"This time we are also getting more number of distributors, retailers and other B2B customers from over 22 states and even countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia. More than 500 brands are on display," Purohit added.

Since the last event evoked an overwhelming response from the industry, participation in the 21st GGMA National Garment Fair 2013 is expected to go up by about 25 per cent and to accommodate all the participants, GGMA has increased the number of stalls. Over 500 brands and 200 participants are going to take part in the event.

GGMA has over 3000 apparel makers and garmenters as members.