The Textiles Committee of India, Ministry of Textiles

Establishment: The Parliament in its 14th year of the Republic enacted the Textiles Committee Act, 1963 ( 41 of 1963), which received the President's assent on 3rd December, 1963 and was published in the Gazette of India on December 4, 1963. The Textiles Committee, as an organisation, started functioning from 22nd August, 1964. By virtue of Section 3 of the Act, the Textiles Committee is a statutory body with perpetual succession. The Textiles Committee is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

Objective: The Textiles Committee's main objective is to ensure the quality of textiles and textile machinery both for internal consumption and export purposes. The Textiles Committee, as corollary to its main objective of ensuring the quality of textiles and textiles machinery has been entrusted with the following functions, under Section 4 of the Act:

1. 1. To undertake, assist and encourage, scientific, technological and economic research.
2. 2. To establish standard specifications for textiles, textile machinery and the packing materials.
3. 3. To establish laboratories for the testing of textiles and textile machinery.
4. 4. To provide training in the techniques of quality control.
5. 5. To provide for the inspection and examination of textiles and textile machinery.
6. 6. To promote export of textiles.
7. 7. To collect statistics and
8. 8. To advise the Central Government on all matters relating to textiles and textile machinery, etc.

Management: The Committee is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. The Textiles Committee is managed by a Committee comprising of 29 members as laid down under Section 3(3) of the Act and Rule 3 of the Textiles Committee Rules, 1965. It comprises a Chairman from the Industry, a Vice-chairman-Textile Commissioner (ex-officio), and a Secretary, who is the Chief Executive of the organisation as a Member Secretary. There are 12 other ex-officio members representing various Textile Federations, Export Promotion Councils etc., and 14 other members representing almost all interests of the textile sector. The Committee has powers to constitute Standing Committee and Adhoc Committees.

Office Setup: The Committee's headquarters is at Mumbai. There are 29 other offices in major textile manufacturing/exporting centres, of them 18 have textile testing laboratories, including 9 eco-parameters testing laboratories.

Functional Divisions: The functions of the Textiles Committee are handled by the following Divisions:

1. 1. Personnel and Establishment Division
2. 2. Housekeeping Division
3. 3. Vigilance Division
4. 4. Hindi Cell
5. 5. Finance and Accounts Division
6. 6. Export Promotion & Quality Assurance Division
7. 7. Laboratory Division
8. 8. TQM Division
9. 9. Market Research Division, and
10. 10. HRD & PR Division

Apart from the above Divisions, the Textiles Committee also has a well established Library in Mumbai, which has technical books and manuals on textiles and also subscribes to textile magazines and periodicals, which are of use to the textile manufacturers.

ZDH & SEQUA Partnership Programme

The ZDH/SEQUA Partnership Programme in India supports the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by building up the capacities of business membership organizations – Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Associations and Federations of business organizations to provide improved and sustainable services to their members especially to the SMEs. The programme is sponsored by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

ZDH

The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) is the apex body of the German Skilled Crafts sector – the umbrella organization of chambers and associations of skilled crafts. ZDH represents the interests of the skilled crafts sector as a whole, both to the German Government and its central authorities and to the European Union and international organizations.

ZDH promotes the coordination of opinions on all questions of small business policy, following these basic principles: Adherence to a free market economy, Promotion of a strong and competitive small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector. Support for vocational training to satisfy the growing demand for trained employees.

As of 2004, ZDH represents 887,000 companies with around 5 million employees and 500,000 apprentices in 98 trades and professions representing around 20% of the total workforce and 31% of all apprentices in Germany. The skilled crafts sector contributed to 9% of the German GDP in 2004 by reaching a sales volume of 462 billion.

SEQUA

The Foundation for Economic Development and Vocational Training (SEQUA) founded in 1991 as a non-profit organisation, is a joint undertaking of ZDH, Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) and Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA). As a service organisation for project acquisition and implementation, SEQUA mobilizes the know-how and commitment of German business organisations and enterprises for the benefit of international cooperation.

With its projects SEQUA contributes to the economic and social development particularly in developing countries. The project focus is the promotion of SME’s, the development of private sector organizations and the support of vocational training in the partner countries. Futhermore, SEQUA supports activities of European companies in developing countries as well as in South Eastern Europe. Since 1991, SEQUA has carried out more than 300 projects worldwide.