Empowering Textiles - 11th Edition of India ITME Hosted in IEML, Greater Noida Between 8th to 13th December 2022

India ITME 2022, hosted a prestigious textile engineering and technology B2B Exhibition in IEML, Greater Noida, U.P., showcased 1600+ Live machinery and unveiled 69 new products with participation from 68 countries.

The 2nd edition of ITME Awards with jury members

The 11th edition of India ITME saw 87, 400 visitors totalling 1,10,000 footfalls enjoying multiple activities over six days. The visitors included industry members, technocrats, academicians, students and government officials, and delegations from 13 countries.

On 8th December 2022, the event was inaugurated with lamp lighting, Ganesh Vandhana & national anthem, attended by Mr. S. Hari Shankar, Chairman, India ITME Society, Mr. Ketan Sanghvi, Hon. Treasurer, Mr. Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Chairman & Managing Director, Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. and Ex-Chairman, Mr. Sanjiv Lathia, Ex-Chairman, Mr. Anuj Bhagwati, Chairman & Managing Director, ATE, Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Chairman, India Exposition Mart Ltd. etc.

The exhibition witnessed participation from Indian textile engineering institutes such as VJTI Mumbai, and DKTE Ichalkaranji. MOUs were signed for knowledge exchange with the Swiss Textile Machinery Association and Italian Textile Machinery Association, for collaboration in business and technical education.

Panellists from Aachen University, Germany, Prof. Thomas Gries, Chairman, ITA, RWTH, Mr. Philipp Huber, RWTH Aachen, Mr. Kumar Jois, RWTH Aachen, Mr. Shantanu Bhat, RWTH Aachen, Ms. Gozdem Dittel, RWTH Aachen, Mr. Justin Khn, RWTH Aachen, flew down to speak on interesting topics.

Other speakers included Mr. Uday Gill, CSO, Indorama, Dr. PKC Bose, MD, Enercon Mr. Braz Costa, CITEVE, Portugal, Mr. Gurudas Aras, Strategic Consultant, Mr. Ranjit Sasi, India Head, Reverse Resources, Ms Khusbhu Maheshwari, Mr Anurag Gupta, MD, Usha Yarns, Dr Asim Tewari, IIT B, Dr Rajalakshmi Natarajan, IIT Dharwad, Saatchi Doshi, Programme, Devyani Hari, Director Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), Dr Mohit Raina, Raina Industries Pvt Ltd, Dr Asim Tewari, IIT Bombay & Mr Prashant Agrawal, Wazir Advisors.

The topics included

• Transformation through Collaboration for Sustainability

• Hydrogen Storage systems - Trends in Europe and India

• Role of Carbon in Fuel Cell Technology and Energy Conversion Devices

• Fibre-based materials for future energy applications

• From fibres to components: What does hydrogen storage technology have to do with textile technology

• Composites & Technical textiles for Energy Efficient Building

• Multifunctional textile-reinforced concrete structures for building applications

• Strategic Innovation in Textile Value Chain

• Need for Composites in the Energy Sector

• Learnings from the transformation in the Apparel & Textile Industry in Portugal

• Accelerating innovations for circular textiles

India ITME Society facilitated the interaction of industry and policymakers through CEO Conclave coordinated by Mr. Avinash Mayekar, Suvin. The session was attended by Shri Rohit Kansal, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, Shri P. Sathasivam, Ex-Chief Justice of India & Former Governor of Kerala, Ms Prajakta L. Verma, IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, Mr. Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI, Ms. Roop Rashi Mahapatra, Textile Commissioner, GoI. The industry sector was represented by Mr. T. Rajkumar, the Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, Mr. M. Sankar, President, of Textile Machinery Division TMD (Operations), Lakshmi Machine Works Limited and Mr. Arun Kumar Garodia, Chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council of India.

The event carried its theme, "Empowering Textile Through Technology," by encouraging indigenous innovations. "Appreciating the best of the industry' the 2nd edition of ITME awards felicitated companies like Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd., Rabatex Industries, Texfab Engineers (India) Pvt. Ltd., ColorJet India Ltd., Lakshmi Card Clothing Manufacturing Company Private Limited, S. A. Pharmachem Pvt. Ltd.

Women entrepreneurs received praise for their success in a male-dominated field. Ms Deepa A Kumar, Founder & Managing Director, Yashram Lifestyle Brands Pvt. Ltd. & Ms Neha Jhunjhunwala, Director of Sarla Performance Fibers Ltd. were selected for the award. In the category of best Master Weaver, Ms Santoshi Kewat, Master Weaver, Maheshwari Creations, Madhya Pradesh & under the category of Restoring Traditional Skills, Ms Kumari Raita, Soura Development Agency, Odisha was felicitated. For Research Excellence-Dr. Rekha Ramakrishnan, SASMIRA Institute was felicitated.

The jury panel comprised the stalwarts-Mr Uday Gill, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Indorama Ventures Ltd., Mr Updeep Singh, President & CEO, Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd., Mr. Manohar Samuel, Advisor, R&D, Reliance Retail, Mr. Gurudas V Aras, India consultant, ITA group, Germany, Mr. R. Anand, Partner, Eastern Engineering Company, Dr. Manisha Mathur, Joint Director, SASMIRA, Mr. Sanjiv Lathia, Ex-Chairman of India ITME Society, Mr. Ketan Sanghvi, Hon. Treasurer. Mr. Hari Shankar, the Chairman, unanimously recommended Mr. S.P. Oswal for the honour of the 'Textile Maestro of industry'.

The industry and officials praised the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institutes technical symposium on "Reduce-Reuse-Recycle State of the Art in the Textile Sector."

It was a seamless exhibition to showcase the progress of the Indian textile industry. A cultural event with dance, music and good cuisine was held, giving art and culture equal weight. To create new opportunities in India, a North East folk art, music, dance, and fashion show with live music showcased Maheshwari Sarees made by women master weavers of Madhya Pradesh. Our female traditional weavers received exposure on the platform. Everyone took pleasure in viewing a variety of wildlife photos taken by Mr. Hari Santharam too.

The event laid the groundwork for the upgradation of Indias textile industry to cater to domestic and international demands.

The 11th edition of India ITME 2022 provided an opportunity for foreign machinery manufacturers to fill in Indias deficiencies and establish connections in 68 other countries.

To reduce paper usage, the India ITME digitalized its services and offered exhibitor manuals, visitor guides, help desk support, etc digitally. The mega event concluded on a high note to empower its participants to infuse vibrancy into the industry facing geopolitical turbulence amidst other challenges.