The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), a leading trade body of the Indian textile industry, has elected Rakesh Mehra as Chairman, Ashwin Chandran as Dy Chairman and Dinesh Nolkha as Vice Chairman for two years i.e. 2023-2025.
This decision was made during the organisation’s 65th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held virtually.
Rakesh, a Chartered Accountant and the Chairman of Banswara Syntex Limited (BSL), an integrated textile manufacturer, expressed his commitment to fostering collaborative and inclusive initiatives for the overall growth of the textile sector.
Ashwin Chandran has held the position of Director in PC Racing Foundation, The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, Textile Sector Skill Council He has also been the Chairman of SIMA, Member of CITI Sub-Committee on Manmade Fiber and Yarn and Technical Textiles, Chairman of Yarn Committee of TEXPROCIL, Vice-Chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), New Delhi.
Dinesh Nolkha has served as President of Mewar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, and Chairman of NITRA, Ghaziabad. Presently he is Vice President of the Rajasthan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Jaipur, Rajasthan. He has also been conferred by CA Business Leader Award by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Reflecting on the industry’s recent challenges, outgoing Chairman T Rajkumar acknowledged the sector’s resilience, citing a 4.33 per cent growth in India’s cumulative exports of textiles and apparel in August 2023 compared to the previous year.
Rajkumar expressed the industry will surely bounce back strongly towards the goal of clocking a US $ 350 billion market size including US $ 100 billion exports by 2030. The aggressive pace and scope of the recent FTAs which are either signed up such as India-UAE CEPA, and India-Australia ECTA, or are under negotiations with countries like EU, UK, and Canada are indicators of this.
Rajkumar also highlighted the challenges posed by the introduction of Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for various textile products. These challenges include issues related to product coverage, testing facilities, licensing procedures, and domestic availability. However, he noted the Government’s consultative approach in addressing industry concerns related to QCOs, indicating a collaborative effort to navigate these challenges.
