The recently concluded 39th India Knit Fair, Tirupur for Autumn/Winter/Mid-Summer 2015, organized in Tirupur by Apparel Export Promotion Council, Tirupur Exporters’ Association and India Knit Fair Association was a slow affair according to the participants. Though the organizers claim that the event generated business enquiries worth Rs. 275 crore as 25 buyers and 159 buying houses visited the show, which saw 49 exporters display their products, most of the participants were not happy with the fair as they were expecting more foreigner buyers.
“There were very few foreign buyers, and only some local buying houses. I am not sure how the organizers are claiming business of Rs. 275 crore when we don’t have an enquiry of even of Rs. 275. We asked the organizers the same question, but what can you expect from them as there is no commitment. We wasted our time, money and resources for three days,” said an angered Tirupur-based exporter who didn’t want to disclose his name. B. Shanmugam of Ecocert India, Aurangabad was also of the same opinion, as he was not happy with the footfall at the fair.
Though sustainable products were limited on display, but they attracted many of the buyers. “Buyers showed interest in our products which were made of recycled material. We got some enquiries from Belgium as well as Germany and they have taken samples also,” informed R.S. Balagurunathan, MD of Anandi Enterprises, Tirupur. The company associated with BCI (Better Cotton Initiative), organic GOTS & OE has expertise in Tees. Kairali Exports (Ayurtex) was also displaying products made using herbal dyes.
Apart from Tirupur, there were participants from other cities like Bhopal, Delhi, Bangalore, etc. and few of them had different products to showcase. Bhaskar Denim, Bhopal was also present at the show. “Though the fair is called knit fair, knit and denim are closely related and there are only few exporters in Tirupur in denim segment, so we participated to give exposure to our product to a different set of buyers. It could have been better and the organizers should call more buyers and buying houses, but overall it was OK for us,” shared Srigopal Jhawar, Business Head, of the company.
