Four decades old, the Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (GEAR) has recently elected its new and comparatively young team. As it was the first time that there was serious election for the association with exporters actively involved in the process, the new team realized that now they have to perform and work unitedly for the upliftment of the exporters of Jaipur/Rajasthan most of whom are small- and medium-level businessmen. In an exclusive interaction with Apparel Resources, Ravi Poddar, the newly elected President of GEAR and Partner of Cheer Sagar, one of the principal export houses of Jaipur, shares his vision for the exporters of Rajasthan…
With the vision to develop ‘brand Jaipur’ and work unitedly for the growth of each member, the new team has prepared the blueprint for its tenure (two years), and the strategy is to work aggressively on two fronts – external as well as internal. The team has already met the city’s MP, Minister of Industries and senior management of RIICO for better synergy of ideas. “Our core agenda for this exercise was to get sanction for land to start a training centre as this issue is pending from last 4-5 years. The Government has assured us in this regard and soon we will see some solid results in this direction,” says Ravi, who further added that the basic thought is to take the region’s garment industry to the next level. World-class textile university in Rajasthan, green corridor to attract more high-street retailers (awareness about sustainability), creation of a platform to utilize the non-peak season capacity are some of the other priorities of GEAR.
Also Read – Meet the new team of Garment Exporters Association of Rajasthan (India)!
The team is working to find a solution for better connectivity and logistics, as Jaipur airport is further expanding and more airlines have started operating from Jaipur. “Now we have direct connectivity with Singapore and Dubai, but sadly our air cargo terminal is very small as it has less storage space. Even now we are shipping our goods either from New Delhi or Mumbai, but we want to use Jaipur airport for the same. There are some allied issues in this regard, so we are bringing the same to the notice of concerned authorities and will hopefully get some solution soon,” informed Ravi.
For detailed interview of Ravi Poddar on GEAR’s aims, do read the upcoming issue of Apparel Online India.
