The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), the nodal agency for promotion of ready-made garments from India and has more than 8000 members, has set up India?s first Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) at Gurgaon (NCR) aimed at creating managerial cadre professionals in the apparel, textiles and fashion retail sectors.
Targeted at existing and potential managers, AEPC which is sponsored by the ministry of textiles plans to open such institutes in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata within next 2-3 years.
Set up under the aegis of AEPC Society for Human Resource Development, the Institute has been conceptualised to offer cutting edge education and training required for managerial levels in the apparel industry. ?There is a huge gap in the availability and requirement of personnel for apparel industry particularly in the areas of apparel management, merchandising, vendor management, and retail specific to the apparel industry. It is estimated that at junior, middle & senior level there is a dearth of almost 2.50 lakh managers in this sector,? Vijay Agarwal, Chairman, AEPC said.
The setting up of an Institute like IAM becomes imperative and AEPC has taken the lead in the same. The institute is commencing programmes imparting management education to professionals of apparel industry from August 2007 at Gurgaon (NCR), he said.
In order to give an International exposure to its students, IAM is in talks with prominent fashion and apparel institutions in US and Europe for tie-ups which will lead to an international exchange of faculty, students, talent and ideas. The textile and apparel sector is the largest employer and foreign exchange earner for India. This sector is critically important to the Indian economy as it contributes more than 30% of the net export earnings of the country. It is the single largest employer with an estimated work-force of more than 6 million. India?s RMG (ready made garments) exports contributing to 3% of the total global clothing trade, has witnessed an annual growth rate of 30% after removal of quotas.
The gap in availability and supply is only expected to grow as the ministry of textiles has kept the target of $10.5 billion for 2007-08 for RMG exports and expects it to grow to $25 billion by 2010. The domestic organised fashion retail sector- almost non-existent till about a decade ago – is currently worth $15 billion.