- International Sericulture Commission (ISC) headquarters have moved to India from France consequent to the election of Ms Ishita Roy, Member Secretary, Central Silk Board as Secretary General of ISC for three years beginning January 2013.

- As per data available with Textile Commissioner, the number of closed cotton/man-made fibre textiles mills (Non-SSI) in the country during last three years on account of financial and labour problems.

- To honour the achievements of OEKO-TEX® certified companies who have shown special commitment to the issue of sustainability, the OEKO-TEX® Association will be presenting the Sustainability Award for the first time on 12th June 2013 during an evening event in Frankfurt.

- At Oerlikon, CFO Jurg Fedier will become interim CEO and take over the responsibilities of CEO Michael Buscher, who is leaving the company.

- The Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram has generally triggered off a string of apathetic reactions from the public for his lack-lustre proposals, the Union Budget for 2013 - 2014 seems to have brought some cheers to the textile industry.

- Savio Macchine Tessili SpA has become the controlling shareholder of the company Mesdan SpA, with the support of the private equity fund Alpha (major shareholder of Savio Group).

- KCT-TIFAC CORE in Textile Technology & Machinery, jointly with Indian Statistical Institute, organised one-day workshop on Application of Statistical Techniques for Textile/Apparel Industry recently.

- Mr Sohail Sheikh and Ms Rohini Nimje, students of final year Diploma Programme in Textile Manufacture of Government Polytechnic, Nagpur won first prize in national level Paper writing competition organised by The All India Federation of Co-operative Spinning Mills Ltd and DKTE Society's Textile and Engineering Institute, Ichalkaranji recently.

- Bannari Amman Institute of Technology organised, 14th FUTURA, a 3-day National Technical Symposium and Project Design Contest recently.

- The Fiber Society's Spring 2013 Conference at the Mercure Hotel in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

- Demand high for 'Complete Cotton' take up for this year's 'Complete Cotton' training programme, has proved so popular that the Association has had to close registration two months ahead of training.

- The website of the International Test Association for Applied Protection against UV Radiation has been recently relaunched with both its content and design now having a revised and modern new look.

- The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued revised "Green Guides" to help companies understand the requirements for environmental claims associated with their products.

- Based on an industry study conducted by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, during the fourth quarter of 2012, the orders index for textile machinery rose by 22% compared to the previous quarter.

- The International OEKO-TEX® Association is currently working on an optimised, independent certification for environmentally friendly and socially responsible companies.

- As for the French textile machinery manufacturers, for already a long time they have considered India as a lead market.

- On the occasion of Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit, the 10th International & 68th All India Textile Conference was organised by TAI, Mumbai Unit jointly with Central Office, the theme of the Conference was "World Textiles - Challenges towards Excellence".

- The Society of Dyers and Colourists, India (SDC India) organised its 4th half day seminar titled 'Sustainability in Textiles - How we can make a Change?' on 12th December, 2012.

- DKTE's Textile & Engineering Institute Ichalkaranji and Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers have signed an agreement for the establishment of an Italian Training Centre at Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra.

- The Textile & Engineering Institute enjoys a unique and prominent place amongst the institutions that are engaged in education, training, research and consultancy in various disciplines of engineering in India.

- Turkey has repealed the safeguard duty imposed on import of cotton yarn with effect from 4th August 2011 for a period of 3-years on 31st December 2012.

- Mr Rakesh Mehra, has been unanimously elected as the Chairman of The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council for a period of two years.

- ITAMMA took initiatives under the umbrella of its Cluster Development activities and received an approval "in principle" on 15th May, 2012 from National Productivity Council for forming DPG to take part in the Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) for Textile Machinery & Accessories Manufacturing Cluster at Ahmedabad.

- Indian Textile Processors' Directory (New 3rd Edition), which claims to contain business information of textile dyeing, printing and processing units of over 100 cities/towns of India, is available now.

- The Textile Machinery Manufacturers Association (India) has come out with the latest Buyers Guide, which is an an ideal reference source for India's textile machinery, parts & accessories.

- The global economy has encountered increasingly strong headwinds in the recent times that have set back world trade and output growth.

- With regard to product certification according to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100, the OEKO-TEX® Association has as usual updated the applicable test criteria and limit values at the beginning of year.

- You can now access a new and comprehensive 'cotton trade' history timeline via the International Cotton Association's (ICA) website.

- The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) has released the 2012 edition of its biennial International Production Cost Comparison – the only consolidated source for benchmarking the yarn and fabric production costs.

- A new survey released by DuPont has revealed a growing understanding of green products among urban Chinese consumers.