Bengaluru, Jan 8 (IANS): The central government will extend support to Solapur in Maharashtra to become a hub for making uniforms, said a top official on Tuesday.
"As Solapur has the potential to become a uniform hub of the country, we will extend all the support in achieving the goal set by Maharashtra," said Union Government's Director of Textiles Sushil Gaekwad at a trade event here.
Solapur is about 400 km southeast of Mumbai and 310 km from Hyderabad.
Unveiling the third edition of the Uniform, Garment and Fabric Manufacturers Fair 2019 here, Gaekwad said the Centre had made efforts with progressive policies for strengthening the textile sector to flourish.
"The textile sector at Solapur has proved our policies right by achieving high growth rate and generating thousands of jobs for the youth and women. We are committed to help the textile town in becoming the country's hub for uniforms," said Gaekwad.
Lauding the Solapur Garment Manufacturers Association for helping the stakeholders in developing the sector, the Director said modernizing the industry had helped them in generating jobs for youth and honing their skills.
The three-day fair at Prabhakar Kore Convention Centre in the city's northwest suburb is being held by the Association for the first time outside Solapur to promote its small, medium and large units for making uniforms for captive and retail markets across the country and overseas through exports.
"We have drawn cluster parks and textile parks for Solapur to help the industry become a hub for uniforms in the country and exports. The Fair will help create awareness of the town's potential," said Govidraj at the trade event.
Ahead of the event, Association President Darshan Kochar told IANS that Solapur would have about 2,000 units to become the world's largest uniform sourcing hub by 2022.
"There is a huge demand for our school uniforms, kids' garments and dresses for gents and ladies owing to their quality, durability, colour and texture," said Kochar.
The uniform manufacturing sector market size in India is estimated to be Rs 18,000 crore per annum, with Rs 10,000 crore from machinery and fabrics while Rs 8,000 crore is from sales supplying to local schools through retailers and institutions.
The Association has also set up a centre in 2017 to train free hundreds of women in stitching uniforms at Solapur and providing jobs for them in the cluster units.
"Mafatlal Industries has set up a garment manufacturing unit at Solapur to hire the trained women in hundreds for stitching uniforms," said Kochar.
About 100 stakeholders, including buyers from America, Dubai, Ghana, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, are participating in the event, which will have business-to-business (B2B) sessions at the expo.
"Potential buyers from five southern states are at the Fair to inspect the fabrics and designs for placing orders at B2B meetings," added Kochar.
Reputed brands in uniform fabric making like Mafatlal, U Code, Valji, Qmax World, Sangam, Bombay Dyeing, Siyaram's Unicode, Sparsh Fab, Only Vimal (Reliance), Ranjit Fabs, Pushpa Textiles, J C Pacific Apparels, D.M. Hosiery, 10 Grams, Zoom Apparels and Wocky Tocky are showcasing their products and variety.