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Alok Industries which makes cotton and polyster yarn, apparel fabric, garments and home textiles plans to separate its operations into two or three units that can be individually sold to financial investors, as it struggles under the weight of debt. As of March 31, 2015, the textile maker had Rs 15,347 crores of debt, which, adjusting for non-fund based exposure, would come close to Rs 20,000 crores now.
The main lenders include State Bank of India and IDBI Bank. It is believed that Alok Industries’ creditors are currently in the process of appointing an external auditor to conduct a forensic audit of the company’s books.
Lenders to Alok Industries decided on a strategic debt restructuring (SDR) of the company in November 2015, the company said in a stock exchange notification. In January this year it said, lenders planned to acquire 65 per cent of the company by converting debt to equity under SDR. SDR, introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2015, allows banks to convert a part of a defaulting borrower’s debt into majority equity and assume operational control.
"Hong Kong recently hosted the inaugural Belt and Road Summit to explore business opportunities presented to the world by the Belt and Road Initiative. Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, more than 20 senior government ministers from countries located along the Belt and Road routes as well as business leaders from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, ASEAN and other regions shared their insights on a wide range of issues."
Hong Kong recently hosted the inaugural Belt and Road Summit to explore business opportunities presented to the world by the Belt and Road Initiative. Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, more than 20 senior government ministers from countries located along the Belt and Road routes as well as business leaders from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, ASEAN and other regions shared their insights on a wide range of issues. The high-level event welcomed more than 2,400 participants, including investors, project owners and services professionals.
The event was organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG), supported by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce, and the People’s Bank of China, in association with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).
In his welcome remarks, HKTDC Chairman Vincent HS Lo said that the Hong Kong Trade Development Council has been promoting the city as an integrator that brings together governments, capital and expertise to maximize Belt and Road opportunities.
Policy coordination, sector cooperation and ASEAN development
There were three panel sessions. The first panel, chaired by Laura Cha, Chairman of Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council, analysed investment opportunities from policy makers’ perspective. The panellists shared their views on how governments can develop their own policies and work with other countries to facilitate cooperation. The speakers included HE Eng Sultan Saeed AlMansoori, Minister of Economy, the United Arab Emirates; HE Ong Ka Chuan, Second Minister of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia; Franky Sibarani, Chairman, Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM); and the Hon Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, HKSAR.
Addressing the topic, ‘Enhancing cross-sector connectivity among economies along the Belt and Road is a major goal of the Initiative,’ the second panel presented influential business leaders offering their insights into closer cooperation between different sectors within the Belt and Road framework. Putting forth their views were: Victor Fung, Group Chairman, Fung Group (Panel Chair); HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, DP World; Douglas Flint, Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc; Dr DJ Pandian, Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Lin Jingzhen, Deputy Chief Executive, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited; and Professor the Hon KC Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, HKSAR.
The third panel examined the importance of closer business partnerships and the crucial role of ASEAN in the Belt and Road Initiative. The panel was chaired by Kevin Sneader, Chairman, Asia, McKinsey & Company and featured ASEAN business elites, including, Narong Chearavanont, Vice Chairman, Charoen Pokphand Group; Suryo Bambang Sulisto, Chairman, KADIN Indonesia Honorary Council and Founder, PT Satmarindo Group; Teresita Sy-Coson, Vice Chairperson, SM Investments Corporation; Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, Managing Director, YTL Group; and Dr Jonathan Choi, Chairman, Sunwah Group.
Investment opportunities
Hon John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, delivered opening remarks during the keynote luncheon and Han Weiqiang, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of China International Capital Corporation, introduced the keynote speaker Jin Qi, Chairman of the Silk Road Fund. The $40 billion Silk Road Fund was established to help finance the Belt and Road Initiative, mainly in infrastructure and resources, as well as projects related to industrial and financial cooperation. Jin said that Hong Kong can facilitate communications and connections among Belt and Road countries, and can provide an ideal platform for financing and asset management.
At the Dialogue on ‘The Way Forward,’ HKTDC Chairman Lo shared the stage with Wang Zhan, President of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Executive Vice President of Yangtze Council. The dialogue delved more deeply into the next steps for the Initiative and explored how businesses can plan strategically to prepare themselves for the Belt and Road opportunities ahead. During the Dialogue, Chen Dongsheng, President of China Entrepreneurs Forum announced the setting up of a Belt and Road fund in Hong Kong to capitalise on the opportunities.
Tangible steps forward The summit offered opportunities for effective networking and business matching through its Business Matching Workshops, exhibition and infrastructure display while a side-trip to some of the mainland’s Free Trade Zones. The workshops, under the themes: infrastructure, urbanisation and utilities, gathered investors, project owners and services professionals to build business partnerships through networking and business matching. An exhibition was also staged, with 27 Hong Kong services providers showcasing their expertise in banking and financial services, infrastructural development and professional services. At the Global Investment Zone, 10 countries introduced their investment projects to international investors.
In collaboration with the Association of Architectural Practices (AAP) and Association of Consulting Engineers of Hong Kong (ACEHK), the HKTDC mounted a signature display of around 145 infrastructure projects in Hong Kong, showcasing the city’s infrastructure and real estate-related services.
The event was organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG), supported by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce, and the People’s Bank of China, in association with HKTDC.
Wool cheques will be smaller this year to 2015, producers have been warned by the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB). Wool values have been confirmed at between 61p/kg and £1.18p/kg depending on breed, with coarser wools suffering most.
According to the chairman of BWMB Ian Buchanan, it is a tough global wool market. Strong sterling for most of the selling season, coupled with a weak New Zealand dollar, had been one of the main reasons for lower returns, he said.
The BWMB’s forecast for 2016 shows a slight improvement for some breeds, based on sales in January to April this year, when values had stabilised, said a spokesman. The past six months had seen continued demand for the fine and medium wools as a result of Chinese interest. Meanwhile, clearance rates at BWMB auction sales over the past few months had been strong and there was still demand for quality British wools.
Cotton acreage in Punjab and Haryana has remained far less than the targeted area. The reason: farmers feared whitefly which destroyed much of the crop last year in both states. So they are looking at alternate crops like paddy, pulses, guar. Punjab has so far seen cotton sowing at 2.08 lakh hectares, less than half of the target of five lakh hectares. Haryana is a little better off with 65 per cent sowing so far against the target of 6.20 lakh hectares.
Another reason farmers could not achieve the sowing target is non-availability of canal water. In several areas of Punjab, about 80,000 hectares of area could not brought under cotton because of non-availability of irrigation water.
Last season, whitefly pest attack had caused widespread damage to Bt cotton varieties in Punjab and Haryana, which witnessed a dip of about 40 per cent in output. In Punjab, 1.36 lakh hectares out of a total of 4.50 lakh hectares of cotton acreage were damaged by whitefly attack while in Haryana out of 5.83 lakh hectares, 3.06 lakh hectares were in the grip of pest attacks.
Both Punjab and Haryana encouraged farmers this year to grow indigenous cotton as the domestic variety has resistance to whitefly attack.
Industry leader in supply chain and logistics, Safexpress has entered the 20th year of its business from this financial year. To commemorate this occasion, it has launched Safexpress 20th Year Carnival for its ‘Paid and To Pay’ customers. This is the first-ever offer of its kind to be launched in the supply chain and logistics industry in India.
Speaking about the Safexpress 20th Year Carnival Offer Rubal Jain, MD, Safexpress said that they will be rewarding their Paid and To Pay customers with lots of exciting gifts every month. These gifts will range from Maruti Suzuki Alto Cars to Gold Coins. Jain added that the 20th Year Carnival gifts will be handed over every month to our customers from across the country.
The key to success for the company’s customers under this offer is to increase their number of waybills. This will automatically lead to an increase in the probability of winning under the offer. This is a great opportunity for customers to not only avail of the company’s best-in-class services, but also get rewarded for the same.
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has appointed former US ambassador James F Moriarty as country director. Moriarty was the executive director of Alliance, prior to this assignment. He will now lead strategic oversight and outreach activities with key stakeholders in Bangladesh’s government, garment industry, and non governmental and non profit organizations.
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety is a platform of 28 North American retailers and brands. With safety inspections completed in all Alliance factories, 1.2 million workers trained in fire safety at least once, and 50 per cent of factory repairs now complete, there has been significant progress in Alliance activities in Bangladesh.
As country director, Moriarty will spend more time in Bangladesh working with the Alliance’s partners to support Bangladesh’s efforts to improve garment factories after the Alliance comes to a close in 2018. Moriarty comes aboard as managing director Rabin Mesbah transitions to lead the building and fire safety division of Elevate, the management firm responsible for designing, managing and executing all Alliance remediation and training efforts in Bangladesh.
Moriarty looks forward to having even more active engagement with key stakeholders to help Alliance achieve its shared vision of a safer readymade garment industry for Bangladeshi workers.
Vietnam will host denims show organized by Denimsandjeans.com from June 16 and 17, 2016. This event will serve as a platform for the denim and sportswear supply chain in this region. It will bring together some of the most reputed local fabric and apparel manufacturers, international mills, chemical and accessory suppliers in the supply chain together at one place.
The show will also organise a series of seminars, panel discussions, and presentations. Internationally recognized denim expert Giovanni Petrin will hold a seminar titled Blues Revolution and Jeanologia, the leading textile technology company, will hold a conference titled Vietnam Horizon 2020, A View to the Future. The show aims at giving global exposure to the Vietnamese apparel industry.
Vietnam is the second largest exporter of apparel and footwear to the US, just behind China. Major US retailers such as Sara Lee, JC Penney, Express, The Gap, Macy's, Nordstrom's, Mast Industries and American Eagle source a sizeable portion of their imports from Vietnam.
As a result of the TPP, Vietnam will eliminate taxes on 98.4 per cent of textile and apparel exports to the US immediately and 100 per cent within four years.
About 54 per cent of total US textile and apparel exports went to TPP markets in 2014.
An apparel and textile fair was held in Abu Dhabi, April 16 and 17. This was dedicated to fashion, fabrics, machinery, accessories and prints. The fair has evolved as a trade show over the last four years and is continuously growing. This year 2500 plus visitors attended the show and 75 new companies participated.
International Apparel and Textile Fair is the largest trade fair in the Mena region and the most important platform for the textile industry, both in UAE and in the world. This year the event dedicated to the textile supply chain grew by 5.42 per cent and was attended by numerous professional visitors from the industry.
The textile industry in the UAE is considered a close second to oil among the country’s other trading sectors. The textile industry is vital to the growth of UAE’s economy due to its contribution to industrial output, employment generation and foreign exchange earnings.
Knitted fabric faces the maximum demand in the UAE, accounting for around 49.7 per cent, followed by woven fabrics. Trade organizations in the country are hopeful that the UAE will exhibit more growth and profitability through the bulk import and re-export of textiles and textile articles, particularly from China and India in times to come.
International Apparel and Textile Fair, a dedicated platform for the textile trade, has been focusing and dedicating ensuring better trade movement in this area and also through its last three editions has pushed forward the region in the world textile map.
Sri Lanka will establish mini garment factories in under developed provinces to empower women in rural areas. About 150 mini garment factories will come up in select districts. Under the program, rural women will be selected through a transparent method and priority will be given to those who belong to displaced families and who became widows due to the civil war.
The women will be given training in tailoring by the Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparel while the National Entrepreneurship Development Authority and the Industrial Development Board will train them in entrepreneurship development. Assistance in designing will be provided by the National Design Centre and the Jathika Shilpa Sabawa. The program is designed to encourage small and medium scale entrepreneurs in approaching the international market and provide job opportunities for rural women.
Sri Lanka’s apparel export industry is the most significant and dynamic contributor to Sri Lanka’s economy. The industry has enjoyed epic growth levels over the past four decades and is today Sri Lanka’s primary foreign exchange earner, accounting for 40 per cent of total exports. This industry, entirely privately owned, has successfully exploited opportunities in the international market.
The country has the highest apparel exports per capita of any exporting nation in the region.
Due to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being implemented between 12 member nations, by 2017 India may easily lose around $1-2 billion or more in terms of garment and fabric exports. TPP mandates that for member countries to export garments to each other, they should source 75 per cent of the raw materials like yarn and fabric within themselves. With India not being part of the TPP, the country could lose in terms of yarn exports to Vietnam and other TPP member countries as well as garment exports to US which would now shift to other TPP member nations.
As per the observation of a senior official at the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), while the TPP is yet to be ratified, the agreement is likely to be implemented by 2017. Said the AEPC official, if so, then India's cotton yarn, fabric and apparel trade with TPP members would be affected. For instance, India exports $200-300 million worth cotton yarn to Vietnam which would be impacted since the latter would now source the same from within the TPP members.
The overall impact on loss of business to India in terms of textile and clothing exports could be anywhere between $1 billion and $2 billion, coupled with apparel exports to the US itself which is roughly worth $4 billion from India.
