The Apparel Exporters Manufacturers Association is organising Retail Source India, a three-day garment fair to promote organised retail sector and to create opportunities for retailers, wholesalers, distributors and e-commerce players. Check out what it has for you.
Apparel Exporters Manufacturers Association (AEMA) is organising Retail Source India, a garment fair, in Delhi with an aim to integrate the unorganised textile and apparel industry. The three day long event, which commences July 19, 2014, would be held in Hall number 14 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The platform endeavors to create opportunities for retailers, wholesalers, distributors and
e-commerce players to exchange ideas and grow businesses. Since its inception in 1981, AEMA has been dedicated to the welfare, expansion, and promotion of garment trade throughout the country. The organisation has been known for organising fairs of international standards.
Lalit Thukral, Chairman, Retail Source India said, “Retail Source India will open new opportunities for those engaged in garment retail. It is the only show in India that aims at streamlining the entire textile and apparel sector on one platform.” Acording to Thukral, India’s textile and apparel sector is worth Rs60,000 crore and has the potential to grow by 15–20 percent every year. He strongly feels that Retail Source India can act as a platform for the unorganised retail sector to get organised and leverage the potential of India’s domestic sector.
He further explained that organised retail is a new phenomenon in India and despite the downturns, the
market is growing exponentially. It is expected that by 2015, more than 300 million shoppers are likely to patronise organised retail chains. The growing middle class is an important factor contributing to the growth of retail in India. By 2030, it is estimated that 91 million households will be ‘middle class’, up from 21 million today. Additionally, Retail Source India is also focusing on e-commerce retailers at the event, which has high growth potential in the near future. The online retail segment in India is growing at an annual rate of 35 percent, which would take its value from Rs2,000 crore (US$ 429.5 million) in 2011 to Rs7,000 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) by 2015.
The Indian retail sector accounts for 22 percent of the country’s GDP and contributes to 8 percent of the total employment. The textile and apparel sector employs 35 million people. Retail Source India will not only help in making this sector more organised but will also help in creating fresh employment opportunities. “The garment industry is a labour intensive industry and growth in this sector will be beneficial in creating employment,” says Thukral. Defining some of the key problems in the retail sector, Thukral said, “Due to the absence of ‘industry status’, organised retail in India faces difficulties in procuring finance and fiscal incentives.
We will appeal to the government to grant the much-needed industry status to the sector so that the sops that come with it promote both big and small retailers.” Retail Source India is being promoted across channels like newspapers and radio advertisements; including road shows in cities like Delhi, Meerut, Aligarh, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Amristar, Varanasi, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Mau, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Bareilly and many more places to ensure higher number of
visitors at the fair.
