Union textile minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the country’s largest apparel trade show, the 65th National Garment Fair in Mumbai and released the show directory. Also present on this occasion were Kavita Gupta, Textile Commissioner, Sanjay Lalbhai, Arvind Group and Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group.
Around 50,000 retailers from all over India are attending the three-day B2B fair. On display are 1,005 brands from 822 exhibitors spread across around 6 lakh sq. ft. covering all the halls of the Bombay Exhibition Centre. The stalls was categorised into four zones: men’s wear, women’s wear, kids wear and accessories.
The business networking sessions continued with three sessions comprising agents and distributors; high street retailers; national chain stores and e-commerce companies. Speaking on the occasion Rahul Mehta President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) said despite welcoming GST in textiles and garments, the government should reduce GST on job work for garments and made ups from 18 per cent to 5 per cent. He also gave an insight on the ‘ADHIGAM’ the new software designed for the textiles and garment manufacturers, traders and retailers to ensure GST compliance. The software automatically converts regular invoices to GST compliant invoices sending reminders to vendors/suppliers who have not paid tax at any stage of the textile value chain.
