The 22nd AEPC Export Awards 2016-17 were held in Delhi recently. The awards recognises top achievers from the apparel industry across a wide range of KPI’s and rewards the best performers in 18 categories. Extending across diverse product categories and including both experienced and start up representation; the awards are a celebration of the contributions exporters have made to the industry and the national economy.

This year, AEPC Awards included two new categories viz: sustainability and good practices. Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry said, “The commerce ministry is working on an end to end comprehensive strategy where we are looking to provide Industry new markets through bilateral and multilateral dialogue. To support exports, a plan is underway for creating an umbrella organisation which can address the issues faced by exporters. We are currently working on reducing the time to markets by removing logistics bottlenecks.”

Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aaayog opine, “Niti Aayog accords a great importance to the textile and apparel sector because the industry plays a vital role in delivering economic development. The sector is one of the most promising sectors. In the proposed India–EU FTA, India may compromise for wine and push for textiles. The import tariff on man-made fibre has been a strategically wrong policy. India needs a fibre neutral GST rates and zero tolerance between payment and refund of taxes.” Union Minister of Textiles and Information & Broadcasting Smriti Irani said they are soon going to come out with policy for jute and silk. “Our ministry is also working on a policy for the development of skills of the employees engaged in the sector. The Ministry is also looking at ways to value add Indian brands and designs.”

In his speech chairman AEPC Ashok Rajani said spoke about the contribution of apparel industry to the economy. He said, “AEPC Export Awards are the most prestigious awards in the Indian apparel Industry which amply demonstrates the excellence of Indian apparel industry. The Indian textile industry has inherent linkage with agriculture and with the culture and traditions of the country. The Industry contributes 10 per cent of manufacturing production, 2 per cent of India's GDP and up to 13 per cent of the country's export earnings. With over 45 million employed directly, it is one of the largest sources of employment generation in the country.”