Apparel industry pins hopes on virtual event

NOIDA: The apparel industry in Gautam Budh Nagar, still recovering from losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is now banking on the 66th India International Garment Fair (IIGF) that kicked off on Monday. The two-month fair is being held virtually for the second time since last year and is scheduled to go on till September 25. Before the pandemic, the fair used to be held at the India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida. The International Garment Fair Association (IGFA) organises two events every year — in January and July. It helps exporters from India to showcase their latest designs for the upcoming season to buyers from all across the world.

“At present, we have 1,123 registered buyers and 181 registered buying agents, and 251 exhibitors. We expect the number of buyers to increase to 2,000 in the course of next two months as our team is following up with over 14,000 buyers across the globe to come and participate,” said Lalit Thukral, , vice-chairman of the association that organizes the fair. Last year’s event was held in October, but the organisation is yet to evaluate the proceedings from it.

After the outbreak the Noida apparel industry suffered a collective loss of over ₹3,000 crore.

However,Thukral, who is also the president of Noida Apparel Export Cluster (NAEC), said the market has recovered up to 80% of its business. “In 2020 we did suffer losses but in 2021, the business is back to 80% capacity of what it was before the pandemic, in 2019. We are hoping we will reach the pre-pandemic business, which is ₹10,000 crore, by the end of this year,” he said.

Daljeet Singh, a buyer from London, UK, who has been a regular at the fair for the last 20 years, said, “Since we have stopped travelling and networking, the fair helps meet new exporters and exhibitors and adds business to the apparel industry. China has been holding such virtual fairs and hence new collections keep coming from that country. I am happy that India has again held this event as the kind of material we need for our market can only be supplied from India.” Uday Sehgal, an exporter from Sector 59, Noida, said that after the pandemic, many of their regular buyers stopped business because of losses. “We are heavily dependent on the IIGF fair now because the pandemic hit the business badly, affecting our regular buyers. Hence, by showcasing our collection at IIGF, we can be sure of business because the buyers are registered and genuine. We are expecting new buyers for this season,” said Sehgal.