Govt eases norms under EPCG scheme to help exporters
FTA negotiations with India 'well advanced', next round set to commence very soon: UK minister
Govt making efforts to develop Odisha as a global hotspot of tourists: CM
India's foreign exchange reserves surge $10 billion to five-month high
2023 to be tough on trade as global economies will slow down: GTRI to Govt
Local businessmen in Punjab seek national policy to boost textile sector
Despite India's economic growth, few jobs and meagre pay for urban youth
Indian Staffing Federation appeals to the govt to offer social security to MSME employees
A look at key tailwinds and headwinds for FM Sitharaman ahead of Union Budget 2023
INTERNATIONAL
10 predictions for fashion industry in 2023: trends, technology and supply chain
BGMEA University starts its journey in Chattogram
LEAK: EU to slap penalties on companies making false green claims
Scopes for Bangladesh in digital textile printing
NATIONAL
The commerce ministry on Friday eased norms to offer a conditional one-time relief to traders from select sectors from maintaining average export obligation under a scheme for capital goods, in light of the Covid-19 outbreak. Traders from three sectors — hotels, healthcare and education — are not required to maintain average export obligation for FY21 and FY22 under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme. They will also have the option to extend the export obligation for a longer period without paying any fees. The extension is being granted without the payment of composition fees, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice. Composition fees are usually slapped on traders who fail to honour their re-export commitment within a stipulated period and seek the extension of the permit. The move is a part of the DGFT’s efforts to promote ease of doing business and help exporters at a time when outbound shipments of merchandise are faltering due to a demand slowdown in top markets like the US and the EU. Goods exports shrank 12.2% on year in December, having witnessed a marginal rise in November and a steep 16.7% contraction in October. Already, the DGFT has decided to slash the composition fees for the extension of re-export permits under the advance authorisation scheme (AAS). For instance, the composition fees in most cases used to be as much as 0.5% of the freight-on-board value of the unfulfilled export obligation per month. However, under the new regime, the fees could be fixed at flat rates of `10,000-30,000, depending on the value of the unfulfilled export commitment. Under the AAS, exporters get to import inputs at zero duty after undertaking obligation to re-export finished products within a stipulated period.
Source: Financial express
Negotiations between Britain and India for an ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are “well advanced”, with the next round of talks set to commence very soon, a UK Foreign Office minister told peers in a debate in Parliament here, asserting that a strong deal could boost the country’s economy. Lord Tariq Ahmad, the UK Foreign Office Minister for South Asia, also said Britain’s relationship with India is central to its foreign policy and as one of the world’s biggest economies it is a key partner. Ahmad was responding to the debate entitled “The Importance of the Relationship Between the United Kingdom and India” in the House of Lords on Thursday, tabled by British Indian peer Baroness Sandy Verma. “It is true that, as we set up and strengthen this relationship, the United Kingdom’s relationship with India is central to UK foreign policy,” said Ahmad. “As one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economies, India is a key partner to the UK… We are also looking at lowering non-tariff barriers on medical devices to benefit British exporters, and are well advanced in our negotiations for an ambitious and balanced free trade agreement,” he said. A strong trade deal with India could boost the UK economy by billions of pounds over the long term, helping families across the country, he said. “Cutting red tape and high tariffs could also make it easier and cheaper for UK companies to sell in India, driving growth and supporting jobs,” he added. As part of a review of the progress across all sectors of bilateral cooperation, including defence, health and climate action, the minister also addressed the issue of timelines related to a UK-India FTA. “As an update, we have now completed six rounds of negotiations for a trade deal and will begin the next round very soon… Several noble Lords talked about timelines. “I assure them that we are working those through specifically, but it was very much by mutual agreement to ensure that the trade deal signed is not rushed but properly thought through, and that all chapters are discussed in an exhaustive manner so that we reach a deal that is of mutual benefit to both countries and their peoples,” the minister said. According to official UK government data, India-UK bilateral trade currently stands at around 29.6 billion pounds a year. Both sides formally launched FTA negotiations in January last year with former prime minister Boris Johnson announcing a Diwali deadline for its conclusion. However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak committed to working “at pace” towards an FTA that does not “sacrifice quality for speed” after that October deadline was missed amid political turmoil in the UK. The sixth round of negotiations to finalise the deal concluded last month with detailed draft treaty discussions across 11 policy areas over 28 separate sessions, The UK government has said its target for the FTA is to achieve a deal to cut tariffs and open opportunities for UK services such as financial and legal, making it easier for British businesses to sell to the Indian economy. Verma opened the debate by highlighting the recent creation of the India (Trade and Investment) All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), backed by the British Indian think tank 1928 Institute as its secretariat. She revealed that the cross-party group is scheduled to take its first delegation to India in April. “We believe that the group will provide a strong Parliament-wide link that will not just strengthen political engagement and understanding but will build on what will become the free trade agreement for us to make this century one of the strong foundations, strong collaborations and new partnerships,” she said. Lord Karan Bilimoria spoke of the need for large prime ministerial delegations to India and called on Prime Minister Sunak to lead one “as soon as possible”. “Today India has the presidency of the G20. Today India has a vision to become, in the next 25 years, the second-largest economy in the world with a GDP of USD 32 billion,” he said. “The Indian express has left the station. It is now the fastest train in the world—the fastest-growing major economy in the world. The UK must be its closest and most trusted friend and partner in the decades ahead,” he added.
Source: Financial express
ways. You can find it in our temples, our sculptures, Buddhist shrines, hand-woven clothes, patta paintings, wood works, metal works…everywhere. Every village, every lane of Odisha exhibits Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday said his government is making concerted efforts to develop Odisha as a global hotspot of tourists. The state government is making concerted efforts to develop Odisha as a global hotspot of tourists, provide livelihoods and employment opportunities, and make the state attractive for investors, Patnaik said while inaugurating the International Craft Summit in Jajpur through a virtual platform. “We are developing mechanisms for a holistic development of our tourism, handloom and handicrafts sector. We have put in place various policies such as state tourism policy, handicraft policy, apparel and technical textiles policy,” the Chief Minister said. He further said the state government is also opening art galleries at different places, organising heritage walks and taking many other initiatives to promote tourism and culture. Stating that it is a historic occasion for Odisha, Patnaik said Jajpur was the ancient capital of Odisha. With its existing assets of religious tourism, urban tourism and Buddhist tourism, it has the potential to be a major tourist hub. The cultural heritage of Jajpur is reflected in its vibrant art forms, he added. Speaking on the cultural splendour of the state, the Chief Minister said Odisha is an illustrious land of immaculate art and crafts. Its civilizational journey is a journey of artistic culture. “The artistic skills of our craftsmen are reflected in numerous some form of art or craft. The soul of Odisha lives in our art, craft, music and culture,” he stated. International delegates from 15 countries have arrived in Jajpur to engage with local artisans and other stakeholders. Four UN agencies and five UNESCO creative cities have partnered with Jajpur district to realize this ambitious and forward-looking event on behalf of the state government.
Source: News Room Odisha
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) foreign exchange reserves surged by $10.42 billion to a five-month high of $572 billion in the week ended January 13, latest data showed. The reserves were at $572.98 billion in the week ended August 5, 2022. The rise in the RBI’s reserves is the sharpest since the week ended December 2, 2022. According to analysts the increase in the reserves was owing to a positive valuation impact in the face of a weaker US dollar as well as likely purchases of the American currency by the RBI. For the week ended January 13, the RBI’s foreign currency assets jumped $9.1 billion to $505.52 billion, the data showed. In the previous week, the US dollar index weakened sharply as data showed slowing inflation in the country, strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to reduce the pace of its monetary tightening. The rupee gained 1.7 per cent versus the US dollar in the previous week, strengthening past the 82 per dollar mark. “The overall balance of payments has improved and so have valuations. There were likely some dollar purchases by the RBI. That can be seen from the improvement in the liquidity situation in the banking system,” Soumyajit Niyogi, director, India Ratings & Research said. “Moreover, the fourth quarter is typically favourable for flows, whether through export of software services or for debt-equity flows,” he said. Following a decline of $100 billion in its reserves from February to September of 2022, the RBI has over the past couple of months been replenishing its foreign exchange reserves. “The RBI has aggressively bought the dollar to support the local currency from sharp appreciation. It has absorbed the dollar inflows (Start-up funding inflows). The appreciation in gold and non-dollar assets also reflected the forex reserves gains,” HDFC Securities research analyst Dilip Parmar said. The foreign exchange reserves increased by $28.9 billion since September-end and stood at $561.6 billion as on January 6, covering more than nine months of imports projected for 2022-23,” RBI staff said earlier this week. In November 2022, the central bank net purchased US dollars for the first time since May 2022. From June to October of 2022, the RBI was a net seller of US dollars in the currency market as the central bank sought to rein in excessive volatility in the rupee’s exchange rate amid aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Source: Business-Standard
Announcement of measures such as quick refund of duties, resolving inverted duty issues and bringing exports through post and courier at par with standard customs clearances in the forthcoming Budget would significantly help boost the country's outbound shipments, economic think tank GTRI said on Friday. Most forecasts say that 2023 will be tough on trade as large global economies are slowing down for many reasons and in this backdrop some extra push would help the exporting community of India, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. Budget 2023 is scheduled to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. The think tank suggested five measures - credit all duty refunds into exporters account as soon as goods leave; reduce incidences of inverted duties as they weaken Make in India; use simple language in customs notifications; bringing exports through post and courier at par with standard customs clearances; and not allowing machinery import at zero duty for making products for the domestic market. An inverted duty condition happens when duties on inputs are high, and on corresponding output is low. Expensive inputs make costly products that cannot compete in the export market. In the domestic market, such products are prone to cheaper imports. These measures would help competitiveness of domestic exporters and that in turn would help increase the shipments, it said adding India's merchandise trade exceeded USD 1.1 trillion in 2022. It suggested a merger of the duty drawback and RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products) schemes into one and notification of product category wise rates as a percentage of export values. "Both schemes have independent rule books and rate lists even though they apply for the same export consignment. Also, if an exporter forgets to tick the relevant column in the shipping bill, he gets no money even if he has exported and met all other conditions," it added. The government refunds the taxes paid on inputs used in making of export products and this money is coming down gradually. The average rate of refund as a percentage of export value used to be over 20 per cent two decades back and the average rate came down to about 10 per cent five years back. Now the average rate is less than 4 per cent from both Drawback and RODTEP schemes, it said. Talking about the language of customs notifications, the GTRI said their language is difficult to understand and companies have to hire experts to understand meaning and implications of those notifications. For example, it said, finding the correct customs duty for a product is a pain and a firm needs an expert to wade through the maze of hundreds of customs notifications issued every year. On bringing exports through post and courier at par with standard customs clearances, it said that with the challenging global economic situation, buyers insist upon quick deliveries and exports must be free to use the mode of shipment. "Current rules require that shipments above the value of Rs 5 lakh cannot use India post and courier. Also, a product exported through a normal customs process gets benefits like Drawback and RODTEP, but no such benefit for the same product shipped from post or courier mode, it said. Former Indian Trade Service officer Ajay Srivastava is the co-founder of GTRI. He took voluntary retirement from Government of India in March 2022. He has a rich experience in trade policy making, and issues related to WTO and FTAs.
Source: Business-Standard
Local textile industrialists in Punjab are demanding a national textile policy so that the sector gets a boost and becomes globally competitive. Their contention is that Union Minister Smriti Irani had organised several meetings to prepare this policy and demanded that the businessmen give their representations but nothing was achieved in the end. The Centre had not announced the textile policy, said members of the Textile Merchants Association (TMA) and that the policy has been pending since 2016. These members demanded that the new policy should be framed to meet the requirements of MSME textile manufacturers. “We definitely need to replace 22 lakh powerlooms with shuttleless looms but at the same time it is required to revive handlooms which have immense scope to produce export quality cloth” said Deepak Khanna, President of the TMA. He also added that the Government lacked the vision so that textile manufacturing could get dynamic changes. President of the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), Piara Lal Seth, recalled that several meetings were organised in Delhi and Mumbai and despite attending them on behalf of the local firms, the policy still remains to be formulated.
Source: Apparel resources
Ravi Verma, hired by an electrical parts manufacturing firm early last year as India's economy surged, was fired in November when the company lost several export orders. He has since remained unemployed, unable to pay back a 100,000 rupee ($1,224) loan he took to buy a two-wheeler scooter. Verma is among thousands of Indian workers who lost jobs as the global slowdown hit exports, while the re-entry of nearly 20 million workers into the job market after the pandemic has aggravated the problem. The rising unemployment in India belies other indicators suggesting the economy is undergoing a healthy rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the surge in people looking for work, many of them rural migrants, raises concerns about consumption and longer term growth prospects. "I have been looking for a job for two months," Verma said, looking up from a Hindi language newspaper he was reading at a community centre close to his one-room home in the industrial town of Faridabad in northern India. "I face a risk of loan default if I don't get a job soon." The urban unemployment rate swelled to 10.1% in December, although the total number of jobs in India touched a pre-pandemic level of 410 million, data compiled by Mumbai-based think-tank Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed. Urban unemployment spiked during the pandemic years, largely because of lockdowns, but before that it hovered between 6%-7%, according to CMIE data. Previously, it reached a high of 11.2% in August, 2016. "Nearly 37 million workers were looking for work in December," said Mahesh Vyas, managing director of CMIE, citing a rebound in labour force participation rate driven by the return of women workers and rural youth joining the labour market as fears of the pandemic eased. That was the highest number of unemployed since June, 2021 at the height of the pandemic, he added. Globally, India remains a "bright spot" amid growing fears of a recession in the United States and Europe, and the economy is projected to grow below 6% in the next financial year starting in April, down from estimated 7% growth in the current fiscal year. But, hiring in export-dependent manufacturing sectors like engineering, textile and software has slowed as companies face a decline in overseas demand reflected in falling exports of manufactured goods, down 12.2% yearon-year in December. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unemployment is emerging as a major challenge along with high inflation, and could prove costly in state elections later this year and a general election in mid-2024, analysts said. "The unemployment problem has become acute," said Arun Kumar, an economist and a former professor at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. He said small businesses - which employ nearly 90% of workers - were shutting down and growth was being led by large companies and services. Hiring in IT, software, education and retail fell up to 28% in December from a year ago, data compiled by Naukri.com, India's biggest recruitment consultancy, showed, though it remained resilient in insurance, banking and auto sectors. The online platform said it saw a near 14% rise in job applicants to around 7.6 million in 2022 from a year earlier. According to the latest government data, the number of workers joining firms with social security benefits fell for the third month in a row to 0.7 million in October, while the urban labour force participation rate rose to 47.9% in the September quarter, up 1% from a year earlier.
Source: Economic times
The staffing industry body Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) has appealed to the government to offer social security to the 120 million workers employed in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), said the report by Knowledge and News Network. ISF has also made an appeal to the government to introduce schemes similar to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) for sectors like agriculture, construction and other industries. The PMRPY scheme is aimed at incentivising employers for creating new jobs wherein the central government pays the employer’s contribution of Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for the new employment. These schemes are important especially for sectors like MSME which have majority of their workforce in the informal sector and can help spur creation of formal jobs in the country. The staffing body said that it is also hoping for an early implementation of new labour codes and more clarity on them in the upcoming Budget 2023-24. ISF also asked the government to extend social security benefits to the gig and domestic workers. Meanwhile, the government had last year launched the PLI scheme with an outlay of around Rs 2 lakh crore for 14 sectors, including automobiles and auto components, white goods, textiles, advanced chemistry cell (ACC) and speciality steel. The objective of the scheme was to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive. Earlier this month, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry with regard to the new industrial policy said that it has recommended introducing social security schemes for women workers, and inclusion of labour-intensive industries under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, reported PTI.
Source: Financial express
During the pandemic, additional spending needs and adverse economic impact on revenues pushed fiscal deficits sharply higher. The centre’s deficit jumped from -4.7% of GDP in FY20 to peak at -9.2% in FY21 and is thereafter expected to return to -6.4% in FY23. The FY23 fiscal math has benefited from a host of drivers, including strong nominal GDP growth of around 16% vs budgeted 11%, above target tax collections due to better growth, reopening boost, formalisation, and tighter compliance. The cushion provided by an overshoot in revenue projections and stronger than budgeted nominal growth will help absorb higher spending needs, helping to stick with the budgeted deficit target this year. The FY24 math might see a few of these tailwinds dissipate. First will be a more moderate nominal growth backdrop, with our assumption at 10% YoY. An interplay of dissipating boosts from the reopening dynamic from the pandemic, high cost of financing, base effects, and a tougher global environment will moderate the pace of pick-up in growth in the rest of the current fiscal year and the next. While the lagged impact of the 2022 reopening and festive tailwinds coupled with better employment generation will help, household savings have returned to normalcy. Nominal goods exports carry a strong positive correlation with the demand-side driver, i.e., global imports, with a slowdown in the latter to weigh on trade performance, with some tail-end impact on the private investment cycle. Secondly, this Budget presentation comes ahead of a busy state poll calendar in 2023, followed by general elections in 2024, implying various economic and political compulsions. Despite these overarching demands, macro stability will assume importance in a year of high US interest rates and tight global liquidity. We expect the centre to stick with the fiscal consolidation path and not indulge in outright measures to boost short-term consumption, helping to keep additional spending and incremental inflationary impact in check. Instead, moves might include fine-tuning existing measures, reallocating resources while scaling back covid-related spending, and more targeted expenditure besides focusing on medium-term demand boost via higher manufacturing share and capex contribution. We expect the upcoming FY24 Budget to peg the deficit at -5.9% of GDP vs FY23’s -6.4%. States’ fiscal strain has also risen, with deficits shooting up to -3.8% of GDP in FY21 before easing to -3% this year. For FY24, the states’ combined deficit is estimated at -2.7%. The need to spur a revival in the investment cycle still rests on the public sector. A slowdown in global growth and tighter financial conditions emerge as speedbumps for private sector activity. The focus will also be on public sector capex contribution, including state governments and central public sector enterprises. The move towards higher transparency in the budget math by onboarding off-budget spending (e.g., FCI) has translated into an increase in the share of the centre’s capex whilst moderating that of the CPSEs, leaving overall public sector growth largely steady. Next, state governments’ capex spending will also call the shots, which for instance, has been modest yet far in FY23. Participants will look for medium-term macroeconomic projections, including the revised Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM). In the FY22 Budget, the government projected the fiscal glide path to lower the deficit to -4.5% of GDP by FY26, implying an average of 60bps reduction in the deficit annually. We expect the target to be maintained to signal that the authorities are keen to preserve ongoing fiscal consolidation but without adverse cutbacks, which will be negative for growth. The nominal GDP, on average, is likely to be higher than nominal borrowing costs (10Y as proxy) in FY24 for a second consecutive year, supportive of the debt sustainability ratios.
Source: Financial express
INTERNATIONAL
Prasenjit Tito Chowdhury is the founder and CEO of FashioNXT, a global fashion consulting and marketing firm based in the USA whose work has been featured in Forbes, TIME Magazine, Wall St Journal, Vogue-China, and more. It specializes in elevating and connecting fashion and lifestyle-technology brands with novel global opportunities – brand collaborations and product design, campaign creations, skill development through US industry experts, and engagement through runway and trade shows, especially its annual show FashioNXT Week. Currently, FashioNXT is consulting fashion and tech brands with their post-pandemic strategies as it prepares to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of its annual show FashioNXT Week. A Bangladeshi-American with a uniquely deep understanding of both sides of the industry, expect a new program by FashioNXT supporting programs in BUFT (BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology). 2023 will be a Fashion Bonanza: Recession and inflation concerns will dampen net growth potential. However, 2023 being the first full year post-pandemic consumers, not just luxury clientele who already have been into enhanced shopping last year, will be celebrating life in every aspect, fashion shopping, experimenting with new trends, going out dressed up more, etc. If the economy dampens too much, it will impact the shopping behavior of lower-income consumers more. This means more gross production, sales as well as experiential aspects of the industry. The future of corporate leadership is supply chain: Pandemic underscored the importance of supply-chain at an unprecedented level. In any corporation, the biggest money-making and growth sector creates the most corporate leaders. For example, pre-pandemic, e-commerce and DTC were such sectors, as you have seen companies like Nike for the first time hiring a non-design or non-manufacturing CEO who was an e-commerce CEO. Now that companies have seen the huge stake of having a non-optimized supply chain, and the need for changing it, including near-shoring, renovating sourcing, and many other parameters, they can appreciate the expertise in a new light. Brands will fast-track supply-chain experts to the highest positions in the corporate totem pole. Gen Z’s collective failure to save the industry from its ethical woes will get worse before it gets better: Gen Z came into the spotlight with their loudest objection to hyper-consumption and its devastating impact on the earth’s sustainability. They snatched the megaphone from the millennials and turbocharged it with unprecedented boldness in shaming the status quo in the most visible ways. However, GenZ despite being a bigger consumer of vintage and recycled clothing also became the biggest consumer of large brands. Obsessed with social media flex, during their time the sales of all large brands have grown leaps and bounds. I am not seeing any strong sign of their moral shift. So, that leaves us only with the effectiveness of government regulations as the saving grace from hyper-consumerism that I elaborate on in the following point. Searching for sustainability options will continue: Governments around the high consumption countries, aka industrialized world will enhance its pace for regulations on brands to enhance accountability towards sustainability, like stronger demand of transparency towards publishing details of the supply chain for the consumers to decide. (Ref: Mckinsey & Co 2023 Report). Multiple major European countries, France and Germany already rolled out the regulations. Only time will tell whether fashion is ready for that. Algorithm-decided-content social media will continue to rise: 2022 was the year when the social media realm has seen a fundamental shift in platforms showing content that was decided by the app’s algorithm, not by the user’s social graph (accounts s/he followed, friended). Made popular by Tiktok, which saw huge growth through the pandemic, Instagram increasingly is transitioning to pushing such content in the feed. In the fight for users’ attention, such novel content kept users giving more time to these apps. However, as it reduces exposure to accounts users follow, such lack of certainty to reach the users creates demotivation for creating high-quality and highly edited content, which is the hallmark of fashion content in social media. So, in the tug of war for quality over the organic nature of the content, which of these apps will be the winner in fashion, won’t be decided for another year. Use of AI-driven creative content tools will be enhanced: 2022 saw AI-driven apps that help create content, both visual and text. 2023 will see how the digital realm will wrestle to differentiate between human-created and AI-generated content. Nonetheless, fashion communication being the most content-heavy of any industry segment, expect huge growth of these tools in fashion content creation, but they being in such an early phase, expect lots of trial and error and experimentation. Slowdown of e-retailer behemoths’ growth will continue: The biggest corporate winner through the pandemic was companies like Amazon. But as the world opened up and people started shopping in the real world, Amazon faced headwinds on two fronts – overly optimistic expansion, and fewer e-commerce transactions. As more brick and mortar will open up taking advantage of the low-rent commercial spaces, and surviving retailers to create more compelling experiences to attract more shoppers, e-retail behemoths will continue to lose more revenue. This will create more opportunities for companies that can create diverse compelling experiences for the consumers, not only in logistics but also experiences in digital spaces like Metaverse. Corporate interest in major celebrity colab will dampen: In the era of social media influencers the practice of major fashion brands creating colabs line with major celebrities saw a huge explosion. 2022 saw a colab to unravel between Adidas and Ye named Yeezy which was the biggest such colabs till Jordan brand at Nike. It exposed the vulnerability of such collaborations. Expect much more conservative behavior in this regard in 2023. But colabs will continue, as large companies, despite controlling huge payrolls and resource treasure troves, find them too slow and basic to compete with the appeal of popular personalities in social media and pop-culture space. Back To Work = New Trends in Workwear: 2023 will see a great increase in people going back to offices and leaving casual house wear behind. In 2022 CEOs have tried prodding (e.g. Starbucks) and incentivizing employees to be on campus with perks (e.g. Nike) to smoothen their way back to the office, But it mostly failed to change the human behavior set in the ways in the previous two years. While there will continue to be an acceptance of remote work to leverage the benefits of hybrid mode work in certain job responsibilities, like, sales, customer service, IT, coding, etc, the cons of co-workers not creating group dynamics, co-learning, culture, and mentorship will be catching up at last. Which means there will be further mandatory requirements for extended on-campus presence (e.g., Disney, Starbucks) which will get further traction amongst the employees. This means, there will be new workwear trends that would be a hybrid of casual and office wear. Hyper government control of China’s manufacturing will enhance Bangladesh’s position: The way China handled the factory workers during the COVID made many major western brands wary of relying on it so heavily. It was coupled with concern about China’s future workforce shortage led by the past one-child policy. Companies led by example mega-brands like Apple are accelerating the reduction of dependence on China for their manufacturing. While other existing powerhouses of apparel manufacturing like Bangladesh will continue to be better positioned to get more manufacturing orders, including subcontracts from Chinese companies, as well as Indian companies which have already been increasing. However, to take full advantage of such shifts, Bangladesh must increase its capability of lower MOQ and higher quality manufacturing.
Source: Textile Today
The journey of a specialized private university under the management of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), ‘Chattogram BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology’ (CBUFT) has started its journey. On Saturday (January 21), CBUFT was officially inaugurated by Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni in Navy Convention Hall in Chattogram. The education minister said that the journey of this institution started as a diploma institute. Then graduate course. Finally started the journey as a university. She said, BGMEA has a fashion and technology university in Dhaka. Secondly, it is set up in a place like Chattogram which is very logical. It is sad but true that we cannot provide skilled manpower in this growing industry from our universities. That is why specialized universities are being created. Earlier on Thursday, chairman of the board of trustees Nasir Uddin Chowdhury announced the commencement of the university’s activities in a press conference held at the temporary campus of the university at BGMEA building in Chattogram. The student admission program is going to start in four departments in the academic year 2023 and admission process will start from February and academic teaching is planned to start from March. In the first phase, four departments are being opened namely BSc in Textile and Clothing Technology (TCT), Fashion Design and Technology (FDT), Bachelor of Apparel Merchandising and Management (AMM) and Bachelor of Fashion Design (FD). A total of 140 students will get admission in 4 departments of 35 each. Two more departments namely B.Sc in Textile Engineering (TE) and B.Sc in Textile Engineering and Management (TEM) are scheduled to be introduced later. Before this, six months and one year diploma and certificate courses in apparel merchandising were started through ‘The BGMEA Institute of Fashion and Technology (BIFT)’ in Chattogram in 2002. Considering the importance, the institution has been awarding honorary degrees under the National University since 2013. In the meantime, more than 500 students have participated in the management of the ready-made garment industry after obtaining their bachelor’s degree from BIFT. Nasir Uddin said, “The expansion of apparel sector in the country is increasing. But that syllabus cannot be ‘moderated’ due to which we felt the need to have a separate university. From this we worked to establish the university.” The university received permission to set up and operate on October 24 last year and expects to shift to its own campus within the next five years. Nasir Uddin claims that its program will be separate from the government textile university. Education Deputy Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Naufel, UGC Member Biswajit Chand, FBCCI President Md. Jasim Uddin, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan and Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees Nasir Uddin Chowdhury spoke in the inaugural ceremony.
Source: Textile Today
Due to rapidly rising energy costs or even supply bottlenecks, energy consumption is more in focus today than ever before. Finishing gives textiles dimensional stability and functions, but this requires a relatively high proportion of primary energy compared to the overall manufacturing process. Due to legal requirements, as for example the German TA-Luft regulations, it is necessary to clean the exhaust air of the drying lines. At BRÜCKNER, heat-recovery and exhaust air purification are “two sides of the same coin”. In this article the potential of these systems will be shown.In order to increase the energy efficiency of lines, heat-recovery systems have to be used in addition. These use the exhaust air heat of the production lines for heating fresh air or water. For this purpose BRÜCKNER has for more than 30 years proven and highly efficient ECO-HEAT lines in its program. The first line stage is usually an ECO-HEAT heat-recovery system air/air (Pic 2). Here, by means of plate or tube heat exchangers, the exhaust air heat is indirectly transferred to cold fresh air, which is then fed back into the drying process. This increases the drying capacity and reduces energy consumption. Of course, ambient air can also be heated with this system, especially in colder countries, thus relieving the building heating system. An ECO-HEAT heat-recovery system air/water (Pic 3) is often used as a second stage. The exhaust air heat is transferred to water through heat exchangers. The heated water is then used in other textile processes or is also used to heat buildings, thus reducing energy requirements elsewhere. Through heat-recovery, the exhaust air from a drying line, which is contaminated with spinning oils, kerosenes, avivages or chemicals, is already cooled down considerably, causing the pollutant particles to condense on the heat exchangers and be separated out. Over time, however, deposits form on the heat exchangers. Integrated steam cleaning, while not 100% clean, keeps the heat exchangers operational for an extended period of time. Every few weeks, the handy heat exchanger modules can simply be removed for cleaning and replaced with clean replacement modules. The dirty modules can be cleaned easily and efficiently in an ultrasonic cleaning bath. Afterwards, the cleaned heat exchanger modules can be used again immediately. If in addition to the heat-recovery an exhaust air purification is of interest, BRÜCKNER offers with its ECO-AIR products a modular system for the compliance with existing exhaust air regulations, e.g. the German TA-Luft. Here the second or third system stage after the ECO-HEAT heat-recovery can be an ECO-AIR exhaust air scrubber which cools down the exhaust air further and binds oil-containing pollutants in its closed water circuit. Due to the sophisticated design of the exhaust air scrubber, very little wastewater is produced. The oily substances separated from the exhaust air are separated from the water by an oil skimmer and disposed of separately. After this, an ECO-AIR electrostatic precipitator can ensure that even the finest aerosols are separated from the exhaust air after the exhaust air scrubber. This also causes the visible smoke above the outside chimney to disappear and the exhaust air odor to be reduced to a minimum. If this is still not sufficient for some special processes, an additional bio-filter can be installed downstream. This is a simple and cost-effective method of cleaning exhaust air containing odorous substances and VOCs. Microorganisms on carrier material in special biofilter containers convert organic contaminants into carbon dioxide with the aid of oxygen. In addition, organic molecule chains can be broken down in a UV light reactor by intensive UV light irradiation of the exhaust air, and oxygen can be converted into active ozone. In this way, as in the bio-filter, odours and VOC concentration in the exhaust air can be minimized. With this proven BRÜCKNER ECO-AIR exhaust air treatment system, prescribed emission limits can be reliably complied with. The investment expenditure as well as the operating costs are clearly lower compared to other processes, as e.g. a thermal afterburning system. To solve your exhaust air problems BRÜCKNER has also a small miniaturized exhaust air cleaning test line (Pic 4) which takes a partial flow of the exhaust air over a certain period of time and cleans it by means of the modules described above. At the same time the cleaned exhaust air is analyzed by means of gas sensors. As a customer, you will receive a test report on the feasible purification performance, based on the processes run during the test phase. With this methodology, it is possible to test in advance how the exhaust air behaves with regard to possible separation effects and whether the prescribed exhaust air limits can also be complied with. With such a modern, multi-stage heat-recovery and exhaust air purification system, a very high energy efficiency is achieved, since a large part of the exhaust air heat or exhaust air energy can be recovered. Moreover, thanks to BRÜCKNER’s ECO-AIR exhaust air cleaning system, the exhaust air is effectively cleaned. These systems can also be retrofitted to third-party lines and contribute to a more sustainable and resource-saving production. Would you like to save energy and/or clean your exhaust air? Contact us – we will be happy to advise you and show you the possibilities and limits of our ECO systems. We will also provide you with ideas for further savings through improved process conditions. Investing in such advice not only saves production costs but also reduces the CO2 footprint of every finished textile.
Source: Textile world
EU member states will be in charge of imposing “dissuasive” penalties on companies making unsubstantiated environmental claims about their products under a draft new EU law, seen by EURACTIV. The aim of the proposal, due to be tabled by the European Commission in the coming weeks, is to help consumers make better-informed choices about the products they buy. Whether “green”, “eco” or “environmentally friendly” – almost half (40%) of the environmental claims made about products are “unsubstantiated”, the Commission says in the draft. “Consumers lack reliable information about the sustainability of products and face misleading commercial practices like greenwashing or the lack of transparency and credibility of environmental labels,” the EU executive writes in a preamble to the draft law. “Companies making ‘green claims’ should substantiate these against a standard methodology to assess their impact on the environment,” it adds, referring to the EU’s flagship Green Deal agenda, adopted in 2019. To ensure green claims are demonstrated, EU member states will be requested “to set up a system of verification for the substantiation of environmental claims” that will have to be carried out by “independent verifiers”. Most importantly, EU countries will be put in charge of ensuring that “those rules are enforced” and introduce “penalties” on offenders that “should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive,” the draft says. Penalties should be established based on common criteria, it continues, saying those should include “the nature and gravity of the infringement” as well as “the economic benefits derived” from it and the potential environmental damage caused. Campaigners applauded the move, saying it is “paramount that member states set high enough penalties” in order to discourage companies from breaking the law. “It is encouraging that the Commission intends to greatly enhance the role of market surveillance authorities in fighting greenwashing,” said Dimitri Vergne from BEUC, the EU consumer organisation. “We strongly hope this proposal remains in the final version,” he told EURACTIV, stressing that the draft directive “is a moving target” which is still likely to change before it is published.
Environmental footprint methodology
The Green claims directive was expected to be published last year but was delayed several times because of a lack of consensus on methodologies to verify environmental allegations. There are more than 200 active ecolabels currently used in the EU – each of them relying on different measurements and methodologies. Much of the debate centres on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology, which the European Commission wants to extend gradually across a wider range of products. The PEF methodology aims to calculate the environmental impact of a product over its lifetime. Several of them have been developed for different product groups like textiles, food, or packaging. But some PEF methodologies have been contested because they do not always reflect all aspects of sustainability. On packaging for example, glass producers have complained that the envisaged PEF methodology was overly focused on CO2 emissions without taking into account the fact that glass can be recycled over and over again. Meanwhile, other benefits of glass, like the absence of toxic chemicals in its composition, were not duly reflected, according to the European federation of glass packaging makers (FEVE). Consumer groups agree, saying the PEF method would give consumers an incomplete picture of a product’s impact on the environment. “So we welcome that the Commission acknowledges this method’s shortcomings,” Vergne said. “For instance it is great news for consumers that the Commission plans to ban green claims for products containing hazardous substances.”
Accepted methodologies to be written down in law
The European Commission took account of this feedback, saying it “considers it judicious to leave more flexibility to businesses” when it comes to choosing the right methodology to substantiate environmental claims. At the same time, the EU executive says it will continue work to develop PEF methodologies for specific product groups, citing “apparel, marine fish, synthetic turf, cut flowers and potted plants,” as well as “flexible packaging”. Once developed and approved by EU expert groups, these PEF methodologies and corresponding labelling schemes will be set in stone and made legally binding across the EU via implementing rules known as “delegated acts”. Campaigners support the move but warn against giving businesses too much flexibility on the choice of methodology, saying this decreases legal certainty for companies. “Claims should only be made based on legally recognised methodologies,” said Margaux le Gallou from ECOS, a non-profit group working on environmental standards. “All other claims should be banned,” she added, saying “it is better to have no claims than claims based on poor methodologies” because otherwise it gives an unfair advantage to the company making the allegations. And to discourage offenders, ECOS supports a combination of fines and naming and shaming. “Penalties work: the Dutch authority sanctioned both Decathlon and H&M for their environmental communication, and both changed their approach at group level, not only in the country where they were sanctioned,” le Gallou said. Pressure is building up on EU governments to regulate advertising based on environmental criteria. In August last year, France became the first country in Europe to ban adverts for fossil fuels, following the entry into force of a new climate law adopted the year before. Campaigners have stepped up the pressure too by hacking advertising billboards across Europe to protest against environmental claims made by car manufacturers, which they say are misleading.
Source: Euractiv
Increasing demand for sustainable printing solutions, efficient and fast printing with the use of digital printing technology and growing demand for trendy designs on apparel and home decor products are driving the digital textile printing market growth. Digital textile printing or inkjet printing is a technology where designs of fabric print immediately from a computer, without extra effort just like printing and designing a paper. This flexible tool offers mass customization along with the chance for quick changes to color or design elements before printing. As providing noteworthy benefits digital printing profits over conventional printing like quick turn-around, efficient set-up and speed, economical and great flexibility, taking less time, alteration possible, etc. And in today’s customer-oriented market printing technology is not limited to wearing wears; it bounds to its limits and reaches the requirements of trade show graphics, pictures of huge fabric posters of television and movie stars, advertising purposes, flags and banners and many more.
Advantages of digital printing
Digital printing short history
The Digital Textile Printing history in Bangladesh is not too old. Digital printing was first patented in 1968 and gained popularity in 1990. Beximco Group first introduced digital textile printing in Bangladesh in 2015. Now like Square Group, Liz Group, Knit Concern, Padma Textiles, Fortis Group, Mondol Group, etc. are almost 20-22 factories in Bangladesh that have digital textile printing machines. About 60% of total digital prints are made in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan & Vietnam. Today, Bangladesh has gained the skill and ability to compete with any country in the world with All Over Printing (Screen printing) and has created a strong position, but we are still so much behind in All Over Digital Printing.
Global digital textile printing market size & growth
According to the article of the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA), despite the global COVID-19 crisis and the economic downturn, the digital textile printing market worldwide will still grow to 7.7 billion square meters by 2027 at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2021 to 2027. The global digital textile printing market size was valued at USD 2.46 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1% from 2022 to 2030.
Digital textile printing in Bangladesh
Over the last few years, more and more high-fashion brands such as H&M and Zara are joining unique and more outbound designs in their pools. Whereas conventional printing can limit designers to create unique high-quality designs. Digital textile printing helps designers expand their creativity and gives them the right tools to create futuristic designs. Some forward-looking Bangladeshi companies have started making digital makeovers anyway. Square Group, Liz Group, Masco Group, Knit Concern Ltd, Metro Group, Padma Textiles Ltd, and Mondol Group are among the big-name producers and exporters involved in large-scale digital printing. As the printing industry focuses on quality and accuracy firstly, a fall in quality will cause a high loss in the business. Digital printing helps Bangladeshi manufacturers to harvest higher margins. Suppose a manufacturer gets $1-$1.5 for a T-shirt. But digital print will help him fetch $4-$5. Even if he spends $1 on print, he’ll get $2-$3 margins.
Conclusion
The rapidly shifting trend toward automation in the textile industry is the main driver of the global digital textile printing market. Furthermore, to diversify their product portfolio in the worldwide market, digital textile printing companies are attempting to advance on technological fronts and are investing extensively in research and development operations. Newly developed digital textile printing systems can print with eco-solvent, UV, solvent, and aqueous inks, reducing the impact of printing processes on the environment. Factories must have chosen this sector as early as possible as it’s very near to see the dominating phase of digital textile printing over traditional printing all over the world including Bangladesh.
Source: Textile Today
