Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tokyo. Show all posts

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Run, it s the global textile beast! burp!

When our Editor called us to his office a few months back and told us that us two ‘lucky’ one’s had been chosen to ‘recon’ the Indian textile sector and to compare its progress globally, we realised that finally, us two upstarts had arrived; and our calibre recognised. Visions of the fashion capitals of the world started floating all around us. Which one should be the first one we should hit to really understand the effects of India’s textile sector on global players? Should we travel to New York? Or perhaps Paris & Milan? Maybe London would be a better bet? Or closer home, Tokyo?

The truth hit us hard, too hard. When our cab stopped at the city centre, the searing heat got to us faster than the bill we had run up from New Delhi! We were in Ludhiana! The fact is that if one has to understand which places really drive the Indian textile sector, the names are as unfashionable as they could be. There are basically three belts that drive Indian textiles – the Ludhiana belt, the Tripur belt and the Ahmedabad belt! Punjab, Gujrat and Karnataka in fact contribute a smashing 40% to India’s total textile exports! And this story is about our experiences through these belts with people who can change industry dynamics with just a phone call. And about the fact that 3 years after the textile quotas were abolished, the Indian textile industry is surely dying; waiting for that last bone crushing hit from the sharks of the global textile world, led by the ruthless beast of an animal called China!

How better could you describe it? Walk through any street of Ludhiana, and you’ll see at least one dying textile unit. Ahmedabad – once called the Manchester of India – has seen 65 mills close down in the past two years. The irony is that it wasn’t too long ago that the contagious energy of the blued eyed boys of the Indian textile industry was propelling analysts from all over the world to think big about India.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Olympian samba in ‘Lula’land

Brazil is on track to host the 2016 Olympics, but it must also focus on developing more world class athletes

Yes we créu!”, may sound like a cliché – especially to all those North Americans who have been pre-occupied with the razzmatazz of “Yes, we can”. But this was one occasion they couldn’t; make Chicago win the bid to host the 2016 Olympics, that is. And this happened despite Barack Obama himself staking his reputation behind Chicago’s bid.

Anyways, the more interesting development has been w.r.t. to the winner – Rio de Janeiro, a city famous for sun and sin, which got chosen ahead of Chicago and Tokyo. Even more shocking was Madrid’s lost of 32-66 in a direct contest between the two in the final round of voting. It’s for the first time that any Latin American country will be hosting Olympic games. The IOC’s choice of Rio de Janeiro makes the emergence of this “backyard of the United States” quite evident.

What came as an added advantage for Rio was the ongoing preparation for 2014 FIFA World Cup in the country. Brazil has always been over-enthusiastic about football. And this has acted as amajor shot in the arm for its bid for the Olympic games. Since most of Brazil’s infrastructure and games venues are under a major overhaul for the FIFA World Cup, the city seems pseudo-ready for Olympics.

But it seems that this “backyard of the United States” was also preparing itself quite well “behind the veil.” To win the 2016 games for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil spent almost $50 million. Rio will spend an estimated $11.1 billion to build the facilities and infrastructure for the Olympic venues. So much so that Brazilian president Lula da Silva spent two days in Copenhagen and also wrote personal letters to the 106 voting members. He had each letter hand-delivered by an ambassador. Obama’s effort was quite measured in comparison, as he made a special appearance at the last moment.

Along with Lula, soccer legend Pele and Olympic champion swimmer Cesar Cielo were also there to urge IOC members. Lula da Silva said in his appeal to IOC delegates, “It’s not possible that it be in England in 2012 and in another European country in 2016 ... It’s not fair that Brazil, one of the 10 biggest economies in the world for 30 years; that Brazil, one of the world’s industrialized countries, a nation that has demonstrated its love for sports; it’s not fair that Brazil not be chosen.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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