Coimbatore: The international textile technology and machinery expo (ITGME 2006), the maiden textile machinery fair focusing on total machinery for the entire textile chain, opened here on Friday.
About 300 textile/textile accessories manufacturing and marketing companies have pitched in their displays of running machinery/machinery samples/catalogues that have occupied about 1.8 lakh sq ft specially done floor area at the Codissia trade fair complex at Peelamedu here.
To ensure optimum temperature required for the running machinery and the sensitive electronic components on display, the organisers, Hi-tech International Trade Fair India Pvt Ltd, have turned the entire 1.1-lakh sq ft covered exhibition blocks into air-conditioned space by insulating the massive ceilings of the trade fair complex using two lakh metres of cotton fabrics.
They have also erected an additional 70,000 sq ft of display area adjoining the main fair complex to create extra floor space for the fair.
For the first time, the city is playing host to a large contingent of foreign participants taking part in the ITGME 2006 and about 400 members representing the Chinese textile industry are participating in this year's fair.
Chinese pavilion
Of the 80 companies from overseas, Chinese textile machinery industry under the China Textile Machinery Industry has occupied 60 stalls.
Some of the notable Chinese's machinery exhibitors figuring in this fair include the Jingwei and Chonglee units under the CTMTC (The China Texmatech Company Ltd) umbrella, Shanghai Mechatronic, Jiangsu Textile Industry (group) including its Redflag Printing and Dyeing Machinery Co Ltd, Jinjiang Xingtai Non-Woven Products Company and Changshu Textile Machinery Works. These industries represent the entire spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing equipment.
Domestic presence
Besides the Belgian weaving machine makers, Picanol, Lakshmi Automatic Loom Works of Lakshmi group, the Gujarat-based Aalidhra Textile Engineering Company and Habasit Iakoka Pvt Ltd from Coimbatore are among the Indian companies participating in the four-day fair which is also to stage an exposition on innovative products and designs relating to textiles developed by the students of about 14 technical institutions in the region.
The fair was inaugurated by the Tirupur Exporters' Association President, A. Sakthivel, who felt that the largest participation from China in the fair indicated the vibrant growth of India's garment-driven textile industry.
The modernisation drive seen in the domestic textile industry will get further push by holding of such fairs, which showcase the new range machinery and accessories needed by the industry. B. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, former chairman of the Indian Cotton Mills' Association present at the inaugural session, said the opportunities opening up for India's textile industry appear surpassing even the industry's 2004 vision statement.
The various textile machinery being displayed under one roof here will whet the industry's investment appetite to achieve excellence in manufacture, he felt.
Raising the pie
Hu Maoyu, Director of the China Textile Machinery Association, said the participation of Chinese industry in the fair would further strengthen cooperation between the textile economies of the two countries to increase their shares in the global market.
