The 41-billion US dollar Aditya Birla Group will scale up and expand further the LIVA Accredited Partners Forum (LAPF) – a unique initiative to improve the textile value chain, by reaching out to more players from rural hubs and small towns across the country, according to President, Consumer Insights and Brand Development of the Group, Prakash Nedungadi.

“This is an attempt to bring all textile stakeholders on a single platform and promote innovation and quality, and make India the world’s leading cloth manufacturing hub inline with the Make in India strategy,” has said.

India had the potential and could compete with any country including China. This initiative was not just limited to cities, but would also include small towns and rural players, Prakash said at a Stakeholders’ Conclave here last night.

The Conclave, involving over 200 leading textile players, mainly from the Southern States, was held as part of the efforts to support design development, technical skills, marketing and buyer link support, under LAPF initiative.

“This is a unique unity for quality. We have 320 members on board and the forum plays a key role in improving the value chain through critical support,” Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing (India, SAARC, Far East) of the Group, Ashwin J. Laddha, said.

Birla Cellulose – the pulp and fibre manufacturing division of Grasim, a leading player in Viscose Staple Fibre industry with 93 per cent market share – has tied up with Mumbai-based Netcarrots to implement a customer relationship marketing programme for the stakeholders, he said.

LAPF members include spinners, weavers, knitters and fabricators, with major participation from textile hubs such as Tirupur, Erode, Ludhiana, New Delhi, Kolkata, Surat, and Bhiwandi, a company release said.

The LAPF programme is linked to Birla Cellulose’s fibre brand LIVA which was launched in March last, in line with the Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla’s vision of establishing connect with the end consumer.

The company has also tied up with Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA) to undertake quality improvement programmes and stringent audits for partners, the
release added.