The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) has organized a three-day long Surat International Textile Expo (SITEX) to encourage the textile sector in Surat and South Gujarat region and to create ‘Brand Surat’.

Chairman of SGCCI's exhibition committee, Praful Shah said that around 80 percent of the textile machinery manufacturers participating in the SITEX event are from the city. They have organized a series of seminars, fashion shows and buyers-sellers meet during the three-day long event.

SGCCI president, BS Agarwal said that their focus is to introduce state-of-the-art textile machinery for the Surat cluster. Surat's man-made fabric (MMF) industry contributes around 40 percent of the synthetic fabric demand. Through the exhibition, they want to encourage the powerloom owners to upgrade their machines in order to match the international standards.

Agarwal added that Surat's contribution in the export of MMF fabric and garments is negligible. On the other hand, Tirupur, having just 20,000 circular knitting machines, is exporting around Rs 25,000 crore worth of fabrics and garment per annum. It is their endeavour through the exhibition to provide an opportunity to the weavers to upgrade their units.

According to SGCCI office-bearers, this time around the focus is on the weaving sector and the introduction of the circular knitting machines, used by India's largest garmenting centre in Tirupur.

Around 175 exhibitors from across the country including Ludhiana, Punjab, Maharashtra etc. are participating in the three-day event starting from February 25 , to be held at the Surat International Exhibition and Convention Centre (SIECC).