Shri Naren Goenka, Chairman Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) along with the other Export Council (EC) members inaugurated the first edition of upnext India 2023 in presence of international buyers and exhibitors, at Apparel House, Gurugram today. This initiative in the form of a series of Reverse Buyer Seller meet under the name of “UPNEXT INDIA” kick starts with Japan, is being held 10th & 11th February 2023. Upnext India is organized by AEPC and supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme.

84 prominent Japanese buyers including trading companies and retail chains/ stores are in India to source their requirement from the 112 odd Indian exhibitors which are displaying the diverse range of RMG reflecting Japanese taste.

Highlighting the changing market dynamics, Shri Naren Goenka, Chairman AEPC said, “We hold a strong business opportunity in Japan reflected by the fact that China, which has been a dominant garment supplier to Japan, has witnessed a decline in the past 5 years giving significant advantage to India. Garment fraternity in both the countries have geared up to increase this trade taking advantage of duty-free access for Indian RMG post Indo-Japan CEPA agreement as against an approximate 9% for China and Turkey.”

Indian garment industry which is blessed with the largest raw material availability of cotton, jute, silk and wool in the world supported by world's second largest spinning and weaving capacity. This gives the industry an opportunity for a 95% domestic value addition enabling India to offer to the world a complete value chain solution from farm to fashion and hence extending as a competitive edge by shortened lead times to reach our buyers. After having established itself in traditional garments, the Indian apparel industry has now moved on to diversifying itself into newer areas of MMF garments, Chairman AEPC added.

Speaking on panel discussion Shri Goenka, said, “The Japan is the 4th largest readymade garment importer in the world, there is a huge untapped trade potential in the RMG sector and also a duty-free access to the Japanese market, that is why India must extensively and aggressively focus on building India-Japan trade.” The government of India is coming up with PLI scheme which will majorly include Ready Made Garment (RMG). This PLI will be much simpler norms to be eligible, which will largely address the issue to capacity creation, Shri Goenka added.

Shri Sudhir Sekhri, Vice Chairman AEPC in his address stated that, “Japanese companies have two competitive advantages as apparel sourcing base: sourcing cost and flexibility and agility. Indian suppliers can cater to both small size customised orders of 300 pieces to large orders as huge as 3 lakh pieces of one style.” Apparel imports into Japan have witnessed a positive uptick in the last 3 years despite of Covid 19 which allows India’s apparel industry a huge opportunity.”

Shri Ashok G Rajani, Chairman, Fairs and Exhibition, AEPC said, “upnext India looks forward to building bridges of partnerships between the Indian Exporter community and Buyers worldwide starting with Japan. This Japan focused 2023 edition of the Reverse Buyer Seller Meet is hosting interested Apparel and Fashion accessories exporters, providing them a platform to engage with Japanese brands and buyers. We look forward to enabling Japanese brands to plan for greater sourcing from India through this event.”

The two days of upnext India 2023 will also host the theme pavilions for the startups in technology and sustainability domain, two very crucial areas where Indian garment industry is making rapid transformations. Besides, the show will also witness the series of panel discussions where experts, industry leaders and academia will deliberate upon the trade outlook, ESG compliance and emerging technologies for building the capacity for the industry to be future ready.

Some of the iconic Japanese brands including Koizumi Apparel co. Ltd, Marubeni Intex, X Plus co. Ltd, AIS co. Ltd, Indepp co. Ltd, Aube co. Ltd, Sumitomo Corporation Kyushu co. Ltd, Oyoshima & co. Ltd, Yagi, Muji, Amina Collection co. Ltd, United Arrows Ltd, Konaka, Nissenken quality evaluation centre, etc. have come for the show. Indian RMG companies are displaying the various categories of garment including summer and winter collection.

Japan imported readymade garments worth US$ 23 billion in 2022 (till November), and India which exported readymade garments worth US$ 0.22 billion to Japan with a share of 0.9% depicts that there is huge scope for the Indian apparel manufacturers and Japanese readymade garment importers to bridge the gap and write a new chapter for the India-Japan apparel trade, Textiles.

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