Organisers of the Farm to Fashion Expo at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2019 said that textile exhibitors have so far received orders worth Rs 2,500 crore, and the same is likely to cross Rs 3,000 crore by the time the expo ends on Tuesday.
“I got orders equivalent to contracts for about three months at Farm To Fashion. This is a major revival after after about two-year slowdown during which sales dropped,” director of Ahmedabad-based Prakash Textiles, a manufacturer of fabrics, Prakash Bagrecha said.
Prakash is just one of hundred odd fabric manufacturers and traders from Ahmedabad who exhibited their products at the five-day expo that began on January 18 in Gandhinagar, as a part of the summit.
“Nearly 60 per cent of exhibitors have stopped accepting new orders. They have their hands full for over three months now. Orders have been pouring in from major cities of the country as well as from Nepal and African countries,” president of Ahmedabad Textile Processors Association, Naresh Sharma said. The association is a partner organiser of the expo along with Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and Maskati Kapad Market Mahajan (MKMM).
Majority of 105 exhibitors at the expo are from Ahmedabad. Orders poured in from about 1,500 buyers from Amritsar, Ludhiyana, New Delhi, Kanpur, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai among other cities. Buyers from Nepal and African countries also placed orders.”
After the Textile Policy of 2012, manufacturers had imported modern machinery, which improved quality of products in weaving, ginning and processing as well as product categories like denim, suiting and shirting. This improved export-worthiness of products. Under such circumstances, Farm To Fashion proved to be a game-changer in the sense that it brought buyers,” said Gaurang Bhagat, president of MKMM.
Ahmedabad is a major sourcing hub of cotton fabrics for wholesalers and retailers from across India and even abroad. However, sales dropped by about 25-30 per cent after demonetisation and roll out of GST as the business is based on cash and credit.
Even as Diwali failed to bring back the lost charm Farm To Fashion has revived order-books, said business leaders.
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