The Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) that aims to train individuals in the textile sector was reviewed by the Union textiles minister Smriti Irani. She has suggested measures to increase the outreach for imparting skills to individuals in the textile sector. Emphasis was also laid on strengthening the monitoring mechanism of ISDS.Irani discussed the functioning of project management unit under ISDS, reported a news agency. She suggested that physical verification module should be developed with a feature to upload videos of visits in stipulated time to keep a watch on the working of ISDS. Further, she reviewed the web-based Management Information System (MIS) devised to monitor skill training programmes in the sector. In order to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach to the maximum number of people, Irani stressed on the importance of displaying scheme details in the public domain. At present, 21,577 trainees are being trained under ISDS in the textile sector through 556 centres across India. (RR)
Source: Fibre2fashion
Textiles, the second largest industry in India, are seeing dull days post demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Few textile units pan India are mulling shutdown while some other units have stopped production temporarily. The Centre’s decision has affected the entire chain of people involved in the process of producing and selling of the textile items. “This is a temporary phase but the pressure will be built on every week till the issues are addressed. It will take at least two months for the business to get back on track. The only way to deal with this cash crunch is by changing our payment system,” VD Zope, chairman of The Textile Association (India) told Fibre2Fashion. Since most of the transactions in textile industry are done via cash, it has become difficult for retailers to do business with the cash crunch. This is likely to affect over 15 crore people who are directly or indirectly linked with the textile and its ancillary industries. “Once a unit is shut down, restart expenses will be a lot. We can make up for the loss only if the situation improves within 10-15 days. However, it does not seem that the cash flow will increase in the market in the coming weeks,” said Jitendra P Vakharia, president of South Gujarat Textile Processors Association.Vakharia said he will raise this issue with Union textiles minister Smriti Irani, who is visiting Gujarat on Saturday. Chairman of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (SGCCI) textile committee Devkishan Manghani said, “Usually, we produce 3-4 crore metres of cloth per day. Today, the production has reduced by 50-60 per cent. Sales have also reduced drastically. The trade has not picked up after Diwali. With low production in the textile units, labourers are also going back home. Most of the labourers in the textile industry are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and southern states.” Raising concern over the rise in the number of textile units shutting down in Ahmedabad, Nitin Thakkar, president of Ahmedabad Textile Processors’ Association, said, “Around 50 per cent of the textile units in Ahmedabad have closed. The situation is getting worse. The entire chain of production and sale of textile products has been hampered. It has not been possible for us to do full-fledged business after November 8.” “The weekly cap for cash withdrawal is also very low. Industries like us at least need 5-6 lakh per week to bear daily expenses,” added Thakkar.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Government is focusing both on manufacturing and services sectors to generate jobs and boost economic growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said. “It is a two-pronged strategy. We are looking at both services and manufacturing. There is a strategy for both manufacturing and services,” the minister said at ET Now’s India Economic Conclave (IEC) here. She said the government is also focusing on imparting skill sets required for both sectors. The government is investing big time in skill development and also looking at ways to widen the base of manufacturing to increase its contribution in GDP to 25 per cent in coming years from the current 13-14 per cent, Sitharaman added. “I do not think that we are over-emphasising on manufacturing, but we need that base to get going with the absorption (of workforce) at a level which we need,” she made it clear, adding “we are focusing on manufacturing so that large absorption of labour force can be brought in”. She added that the commerce ministry is also putting right emphasis on the services sector, which contributes over 50 per cent to GDP. India is progressively moving towards services-dominant economy and the government is widening the base of that, Sitharaman said.
To a query about growing protectionism and putting across India’s cause to open up the economies, she acknowledged that it will be a challenge, but there is also a receptiveness to the fact that the service sector can only be serviced by countries like India. “There is a clear understanding that without India and its services sector, many of the developed economies can not move,” the minister added. India is discussing with all countries to ease the process of movement of professionals.”I hope to have some success on that,” she said. Speaking at the event, Power Minister Piyush Goyal lauded the demonetisation move of the government. “You found people waiting patiently for their turn in queues, even going back home without their turn coming but repeatedly saying despite media provocation that ‘yes, there is inconvenience, but we are happy with what this government has done’,” he said. “That is the change of mindset in India. Indian psyche is today ready to support bold reforms and take a little inconvenience if it is for wider national good,” he added. He said the war against counterfeit notes which used to support and on which drug money or terrorism used to survive has also been won by India.
Source: The Financial Express
Ahead of next week’s Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council meeting, Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha has asked all the officers of the rank of joint secretary and above in all Central government departments to attend an interactive seminar on GST on Saturday. “Impact of GST will be felt by all sectors... various stakeholders need to be familiarised with the new taxation system to ensure smooth transition,” Mr. Sinha said in a letter to all the secretaries. “Senior officials can contribute to this in a major way by educating the different stakeholders,” he said. An official statement on the seminar said introduction of GST is the most important reform in the indirect tax system in the country. “Indirect tax structure in India is highly complex with hidden costs for trade and industry. Non-uniformity across the States, cascading of taxes due to ‘tax on tax’ and multiplicity of taxes in the current tax laws are huge deterrents for the businesses. — Special Correspondent.
Source: The Hindu
E-commerce players in India have recorded a hike in the usage of digital payment modes after demonetisation of high currency notes. E-retailers' decision to either temporarily stop cash-on-delivery (COD) or introduce a cap on the amount for COD orders has resulted in an increase in the adoption of alternative methods such as e-wallets and card-on-delivery. “On Voonik platforms, e-wallet usage has increased significantly after the demonetisation announcement. Earlier COD was the most preferred mode of payment, now e-wallets are getting popular,” Sujayath Ali, co-founder of Voonik, told Fibre2Fashion. Card-on-delivery has been a preferred mode for Amazon India's customers, while Flipkart resorted to wallet cash-backs to encourage its customers to go digital. “Electronic payments at doorstep have gone up by a factor of 10X. This clearly indicates that customers are able to adapt to electronic payment methods when cash is constrained. We continue to focus on helping people shift to making payments electronically,” said an Amazon India spokesperson. “The government's decision has given a big push to the adoption of digital instruments such as wallets and Unified Payment Interface. In the last few days, we witnessed a lot of movement towards electronic transactions and we expect the economy to further support this change. To encourage customers to adopt other payment modes, we also introduced wallet cash-backs, which are being actively used by multiple sellers and brands,” said Flipkart in a statement. Speaking about Voonik's agenda for tackling liquidity crunch, Ali said, “We have integrated all major digital wallets. Soon we will also start card-on-delivery through our major courier partners. So we are all set to tackle the immediate liquidity crunch at the customer level and the future movement to cash-less transactions.” When asked if this shift towards digitisation is temporary or long term, Ali said, “We cannot expect that this will change shoppers' behaviour in the short term. But it will result in a better customer experience and thus a higher repeat behaviour over time.” Meanwhile, Indian e-retailers who had temporarily stopped accepting COD orders, have announced that the payment mode is back on track and the cap on the amount for COD orders has also been withdrawn. Soon after the November 8 announcement, top e-commerce players in India had witnessed cancellations of COD orders that were placed before the government's decision to ban the currency notes. Snapdeal's co-founder Kunal Bahl said that COD orders on the e-commerce site have reduced to 30 per cent of the overall sales in about a week after the ban. “There are a couple of challenges due to higher COD orders across all e-commerce players. About 70 per cent of our customers are from tier II and tier III cities of the country and all are women. So for us COD is a major payment mode. Thus, this sudden ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has impacted the order volume,” added Ali.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The rupee on Friday crashed below the psychological 68-mark to end at near nine-month low as sentiment turned bearish on the combination of growing US rate hike expectations and stunning dollar run. Witnessing a near-term rout, the home currency crumbled by a whopping 31 paise to end at 68.13 against the US dollar - the lowest closing since February 29. Imminent higher interest rate environment arising out of the US Federal Reserve's hawkish tone along with heavy capital outflows took a toll on the rupee, a forex dealer said. Frantic dollar demand from importers and corporates mainly pressurised the home unit, the dealer said. The US Dollar rallied to the highest level in 14 years against all major counterparts after Fed Chair Janet Yellen reiterated that the US interest rates could rise "relatively soon" due to an improving domestic labour market and stronger growth. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers and sold shares worth a net Rs 926 crore on Friday. The domestic currency opened substantially lower at 68 from overnight closing level of 67.82 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to strong dollar demand in the wake of sustained foreign capital outflows. It remained under immense pressure throughout the day and encountered extreme volatile momentum, plunging to the fresh intra-day low of 68.19 in late afternoon deals before ending at 68.13, showing a steep loss of 31 paise, or 46%. Last Friday, the rupee had breached the 67 level on huge capital outflows in line with other emerging markets after expectations that Donald Trump's new administration will increase fiscal stimulus which could lead to higher interest rates in the US. The dollar Index was quoted sharply high at 101.11 in afternoon trade on Friday. Meanwhile, RBI on Friday fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 68.0937 and euro at 72.2134. In cross-currency trades, the rupee continued to slide against the pound sterling to finish at 84.66 from 84.55, but recovered against the euro to settle at 72.37 as compared to 72.80 on Thursday. The home unit also bounced back against the Japanese yen to close at 61.72 from 62.24 per 100 yens earlier.
Source: Business Standard
The report predicted that the second half of this financial year will see a GDP growth of only 0.5 per cent, down from the 6.4 per cent forecast by Ambit in the first half of the year. The shortage of cash due to demonetisation could result in a drastic slowdown in GDP growth for 2016-17 to 3.5 per cent from an earlier projection of 6.8 per cent, according to an Ambit Capital report. The report predicted that the second half of this financial year will see a GDP growth of only 0.5 per cent, down from the 6.4 per cent forecast by Ambit in the first half of the year. Official estimates for the first quarter of the year pegged the GDP growth at 7.1 per cent, the slowest in six quarters. However, the government has been optimistic of clocking higher growth in 2016-17 than the 7.6 per cent recorded in 2015-16. “(One effect of demonetisation) will be the transactional hit created by a hard cash deficit as banks are unable to replace the demonetised cash expeditiously,” the report’s authors wrote, noting that this is bound to have a paralysing effect on economic activity in the short run. Lingering impact. The report predicts that GDP growth in 2017-18 will also be affected by demonetisation, slowing to 5.8 per cent from an earlier estimate of 7.3 per cent. Ambit also said that demonetisation could result in small businesses in the informal sector becoming unviable. It added that the effect on the real estate sector could also be severe based on its estimate that 30-40 per cent of the value of purchases take place using black money. “(The third effect) is likely to be a structural boost to tax-paying businesses in the formal sector which are able to capture the market share vacated by the informal sector,” according to the report. There could also be a detrimental effect on the Sensex, Ambit said, adding that it had scrapped its March 2017 Sensex target of 29,500 and was instead predicting a target of 29,000 for March 2018. One positive effect of demonetisation could be on interest rates. Ambit predicts the RBI will cut interest rates by 25-50 basis points in the second half of this year.
Source: The Hindu
Demonetisation has turned out to be a double whammy for the non-coal mining sector. On the one hand, miners are finding it increasingly difficult to pay the daily wagers they employ and on the other, transportation bottlenecks have impacted sales of minerals.
By: Surya Sarathi Ray | New Delhi | Published: November 19, 2016 6:22 AM
miner-l Coal India, the largest producer of the dry fuel, however, said the company is not facing any problem due to demonetisation as most of the daily wagers working in its mines are through contractors whom it pays in cheque. Demonetisation has turned out to be a double whammy for the non-coal mining sector. On the one hand, miners are finding it increasingly difficult to pay the daily wagers they employ and on the other, transportation bottlenecks have impacted sales of minerals. Though production has remained largely steady so far, industry sources said it also stands to be affected if the situation doesn’t improve quickly. Daily wagers comprise 25% of the total workforce in the sector. With the cash crunch the miners are facing, many have refrained from employing daily wagers, which is hampering loading and unloading to some extent. Mining jobs are essentially done by “permanent” workers and they are paid on a monthly basis as their salary get transferred into their bank accounts. “The transport system has been hit by demonetisation. As a result, our sales have got impacted. If this situation continues, our production will also get hampered,” said H Noor Ahmed, immediate past president, FIMI. The mining sector employs around 7 lakh people and contributes around 2% to the GDP. Coal India, the largest producer of the dry fuel, however, said the company is not facing any problem due to demonetisation as most of the daily wagers working in its mines are through contractors whom it pays in cheque. Non-coal miners are also fearing waning in the demand for finished products like steel and aluminium as with the government’s move aimed at tackling the black money, construction might suffer and the demand from other end-use segments such as automobile and white goods might also take a beating. “India’s steel demand growth has been tepid so far in the current fiscal and with the demonetisation, retail sales of steel products like corrugated sheets, TMT bars have been impacted,” said a steel industry official. Corrugated sheets and TMT bars are used for construction, which accounts for over half of the total steel consumption in the country.
Source: The Financial Express
The Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University (ITA) has opened a Dream2Lab2Fab research centre in cooperation with its Korean partners, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) and the Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). The goal of this partnership is to realise the serial production of intelligent textiles in cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) from both countries. ITA, as part of RWTH Aachen University, stands for the automated textile production technology, which is being advanced at the Aachen research centre. The Korean partners bring in their knowhow in textile materials, consumer electronics and digitalization and are setting up a new centre in Korea in the first half of 2017. Why smart textiles? Smart textiles adopt a wide range of functions in human everyday life, e.g. medical monitoring of body functions, sensors in working and protective clothing and or energy recovery by textile photovoltaicS. According to the market forecasts, this fabric segment is expected to be on the order of about US$ 12 billion in 2020, with a growth rate of about 20%. This is a huge potential for medium-sized companies from both countries to develop new business models and create new jobs. For this purpose, approximately EUR 20 million will be invested in research centres in both Germany and Korea. The cooperation will be expanded by further bilateral research projects and industrial cooperation. Therefore, the cooperation with other RWTH departments is supported to promote interdisciplinary research. Within the next three years, the construction of a new building is planned in both countries. Dream2Lab2Fab. Dream2Lab2Fab is based on Industry 4.0, the interconnection of industrial production with modern information and communication technology. Intelligent, cross-linked systems enable a widely self-organised production and allow a direct communication and cooperation between people, machines, facilities, logistics and products. Thereby, the manufacturing processes become more flexible and it is possible to produce goods customised as well as in series.
Source: Fibre2fashion
With the rising level of automobile production and its corresponding worldwide stocks based on the rapid industrialisation in Asia, Africa and Latin America plus the rising demand in Eastern Europe, the proportion of textiles in a motor car is increasing in response to more stringent comfort and safety needs in industrialised countries like the USA, Japan and Western Europe. Automobile textiles, which are non apparel textiles, are widely used in vehicles like cars trains, buses, aircraft and marine vehicles. Hence, the term automobile textile means all type of textile components e.g. fibers, filaments, yarns and the fabric used in automobiles. Nearly two third of the automobile textiles are for interior trim, i.e. seat cover, carpets and roof and door liners. The rest is utilized to reinforce tyres, hoses, safety belts, air bags, etc. It is projected that nearly 45 square meters of textile material is utilized in a car for interior trim (seating area, headlines, side panel, carpet and trunk). According to a survey, the percentage of textile in a motor car amounts to 2 per cent of the overall weight of a car. Apart from this, visible textile components, eliminating hidden components such as in tyres and composites, hoses and filters; amount to 10-11 kg per vehicle in absolute terms. Industrial textiles are largely utilized in vehicles and systems including cars, buses, trains, air crafts and marine vehicles. In automobile textile industry, four types of fabrics are used, namely:
The airbag and seat belts used as safety measures are one of the latest types of textiles in automobiles and have a potential market for technical textiles that has a considerable scope for growth and development. Because of government legislation and consumer interest, the applications have been extremely successful over the last ten to fifteen years. In the last decade, airbags or inflatable restraints have received noteworthy significance as a safeguard for the driver and the passengers in case of an accident. Initially, the bags were made for head-on collision, but now, there are many other safety devices like side impact bags, knee bolsters, side curtain, etc, available for safety in any type of crash. Because frontal collisions are a main reason of accidental deaths, airbags are being presented as a standard product in vehicles by legislation, which has given the quick increment of airbags business in the last decade. NHTSA and HHS report that airbag systems have played an important role in saving thousands of lives since 1985. In 2002 alone, due to the airbag system a 20 per cent reduction in fatalities resulting from fatal collisions has been observed. In 1999, there were 55 million vehicles with 81 million airbags. In 2004, the number of frontal airbag units was nearly 100 million and the number of side-impact airbags nearly 65 million. In the same year, nearly 23 per cent of the new vehicles in North America had side airbags for chest protection and 17 per cent had side airbags for head protection. By 2005, this has increased to 180 million airbags and 65 million vehicles. Fabric application demand has increased to 325 million square meters in 2005, and 83 tons of fibre, mostly nylon has been used. The world airbag market is estimated to rise from 66 million units in 1996 to over 200 million units in 2006, a compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent. Over this decade, Europe will put in 60 million units, Asia-Pacific 30 million units and North America 24 million units.
While North American and Western European markets are growing, considerable development is also seen in the international market. As new applications are developing for airbags, including rear seat bags, inflatable seat belts and an outside airbag system for pedestrians, new fabrics and combinations are being applied. The front and passenger bags have different requirements because of the distance from the occupant, but they both have rapid increment and deflation in a very short time span. Rollover bags must remain inflated for five seconds. In addition to new uses, expected trends include lighter fabric for use with newer “cold inflators,” blended with materials like fabric and film, new coating polymers (Silicone now dominates having replaced neoprene).
Worldwide market for PA airbag yarns
The fibre manufacturer Accordis Industrial Fibres BV, Arnhem/ Netherlands reported that the global market for PA airbag was 84,000 tons in 2005.
Source: Tech Featured
Skill IndiaStrong monitoring mechanism for Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS) seems to be on top priority for Ministry of Textiles (MoT), Government of India. Physical verification module with a feature to upload videos of visits in stipulated time can be a good tool for it. ISDS is one of the most appreciated schemes to train the workforce for Indian textile industry. Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani recently had a meeting in New Delhi (India) with senior officers of MoT to review the implementation of ISDS and also recommended a few measures to strengthen its monitoring mechanism and increase its outreach for imparting training to individuals in the textile sector. She also discussed functioning of Project Management Unit under ISDS. The web-based Management Information System (MIS), which has been devised to monitor skill training programmes, was also reviewed in the meeting. It is worth mentioning that ISDS has been in limelight due to less number of placements. Most of the states having textile industry often demand to train more, but MoT has suggested to first improve the placement percentage of already trained candidates. Even in one of the latest documents, the same was advised to Gujarat as it (Gujarat) also asked to enhance the target of training from 30,000 to 60,000 individuals; Rajasthan asked to allocate additional target of 6,000 persons (under ISDS) in this FY as Central Government allocated target of 5,000 only while the state wants to train 11,000. Till now, 21,577 candidates have been trained under ISDS in the textile sector through 556 centres across the country. Also, Rs. 1,029.19 crore has been allocated for the scheme; however only Rs. 629.05 crore has been received so far by the states.
Source: Apparel Resource
The international crude oil price of Indian Basket as computed/published today by Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was US$ 44.02 per barrel (bbl) on 17.11.2016. This was lower than the price of US$ 44.18 per bbl on previous publishing day of 16.11.2016. In rupee terms, the price of Indian Basket decreased to Rs. 2989.46 per bbl on 17.11.2016 as compared to Rs. 2994.45 per bbl on 16.11.2016. Rupee closed weaker at Rs. 67.91 per US$ on 17.11.2016 as against Rs. 67.78 per US$ on 16.11.2016. The table below gives details in this regard:
|
Particulars |
Unit |
Price on November 17, 2016 (Previous trading day i.e. 16.11.2016) |
Pricing Fortnight for 16.11.2016 (Oct 27, 2016 to Nov 11, 2016) |
|
Crude Oil (Indian Basket) |
($/bbl) |
44.02 (44.18) |
44.80 |
|
(Rs/bbl |
2989.46 (2994.45) |
2990.85 |
|
|
Exchange Rate |
(Rs/$) |
67.91 (67.78) |
66.76 |
Source: PIB
Retail sales in the UK have increased at the strongest annual rate since 2002 as consumers splurge on Halloween costumes as well as warm clothing due to cooler weather in October this year. The quantity of goods bought last month increased by 7.4 per cent compared to October 2015, with largest contributions coming from clothing and footwear stores. The increase in the volume of quantity bought in October 2016 increased by 1.9 per cent compared with September 2016. The average store prices recorded a fall of 0.7 per cent in October 2016 year-on-year in the UK, according to the Retail sales in Great Britain: Oct 2016 statistical study. It was conducted by Office for National Statistics (ONS). The amount spent in terms of value by the consumers in the country saw a rise of 6.6 per cent compared to October 2015 and of 2.1 per cent compared to September 2016. A rise in the amount spent on e-retail channels also rose by 26.8 per cent in October 2016 compared to the same month last year and by 1.3 per cent compared to September 2016, says the report. “The strong figures this month have been boosted by several factors. Cooler temperatures in October boosted clothing sales as shoppers took their cue to purchase winter clothing, while the supermarkets benefitted from Halloween. This has also coincided with the strongest growth in internet sales seen for five years,” said Kate Davies, ONS senior statistician. For every pound spent in the retail industry, 43 pence was spent on non-food stores that include textile, clothing and footwear stores, according to the analysis. Economists believe that the Brexit vote is likely to have an impact on consumer spending next year. The diminishing value of pound due to Brexit will also cause prices to rise. Slower job growth is also anticipated in the UK, resulting in a decreased in spare incomes of households. (KD)
Source: Fibre2fashion
Tajikistan could boost growth and create more jobs by attracting investment to the agribusiness, textiles, and tourism sectors, says UNCTAD's investment policy review of the country, presented in Geneva on Tuesday. TajikistanWith some of the world's highest mountains, Tajikistan was once a part of the Soviet Union. Today it maintains links with the Russian Federation, home to some 700,000 Tajiks migrant workers. In 2013, remittances accounted for 42% of Tajikistan's gross domestic product (GDP), among the highest shares in the world. Although the country's GDP has grown on average 8% per year since 2000, half its working-age population is unemployed. "What the data shows us is that private investment has been low, one of the lowest in Central Asia in fact, and that it has been concentrated in sectors that have not created enough jobs," said James Zhan, Director of UNCTAD's Division on Investment and Enterprise, speaking ahead of the presentation of UNCTAD's investment policy review for Tajikistan. Between 2006 and 2014, Tajikistan attracted $2 billion worth of foreign direct investment (FDI), and more than half of this went into extractive activities such as mining. Russian and Chinese investors accounted for around 70% of total FDI during this period. "We've seen increased investment in prospecting for minerals and oil, but for the time being, Tajikistan has only a few proven deposits compared with its neighbours," Mr. Zhan said, noting that these deposits are hard to access. However, the report finds that the country, located in the old Silk Road region and in the heart of the Pamir Mountains, has strong potential in the agribusiness, tourism and textiles sectors. Tajikistan, which shares some Persian traditions and a southern border with Afghanistan, used to be a major producer of fruits, vegetables, silk and cotton. But most of its agricultural products are unprocessed, leaving opportunity for processing, storage and packaging. Aluminum and cotton account for 60% of exports. The report notes regulatory gaps, but Tajikistan's efforts to attract foreign investors have helped put the country into the world's top 10 reformers of the World Bank’s Doing Business report for the years 2010, 2011 and 2015. "Foreign investment and a strong local private sector are essential to foster economic and social development,” said Mr. Dilshod Sharifi, Head of the WTO Affairs Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, commenting on the report. UNCTAD has supported developing countries and economies in transition with a total of 45 investment policy reviews, and provided technical support with implementing recommendations. Studies show the reviews have helped countries to attract and benefit from FDI and to improve the business climate.
Source: UNCTAD
A number of textile institutions have come together to launch a new cooperation which will see €20 million pumped into the research and development of smart textile innovations. The ‘Dream2Lab2Fab’ initiative will continue through to 2019 and is hoping to tap into the huge potential forecasted for the smart textile industry in the coming years.
Source: Textile Evolution
