The Hindu : Front Page : Microsoft’s ‘gift’ to knitwear industry

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Friday, Jun 06, 2008
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Microsoft’s ‘gift’ to knitwear industry

M. Gunasekaran

— Photo:M.Balaji

TEA E-Readiness centre set up by Microsoft at Tirupur will be inaugurated on Friday.

TIRUPUR: TEA E-Readiness Centre set up by Microsoft as part of its Project Vikas will be inaugurated by Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy in Tirupur on Friday.

The centre, Microsoft hopes, will facilitate extensive application of information and communication technology (ICT) among various sections of knitwear export business and enhance manufacturing competitiveness in small and medium enterprises. The centre, which cost over Rs. 50 lakh, follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Microsoft and Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA). It will increase IT applications beyond accounting and improve knitwear units’ productivity and reduce production costs by introducing inventory management system etc.

The redesigned portal of the TEA will be dynamic and will act as an interactive platform for buyers, sellers, various job workers and exporters.

According to Anil Varghese, group head for Emerging Geography of Microsoft, the centre is basically to take the ICT closer to the cluster. This will become a hub for all IT-related requirements of the textile community. IT awareness, training, solution and portals can be worked out here based on the customised needs of the units.

“Any entrepreneur can visit the Centre and look at various solutions. After interacting with various IT majors and their customised offerings, they can choose the best solution. In the smaller cities there is no linkage between IT service providers and small manufacturers. This effort is to address the problem,” Mr. Varghese told The Hindu.

Software majors including Wipro and TCS now want to provide IT solutions to the textile industry.

TEA president A. Sakthivel says it will be beneficial mostly to small and medium scale entrepreneurs. It will upgrade technology, reduce sourcing cost and increase marketing opportunity besides helping production planning. For example, an exporter can track goods through his mobile. Though the MoU is between the TEA and Microsoft, this is for the whole industry. Tirupur will be the pilot and the first cluster under Project Vikas to become functional, as work progresses at 10 other clusters, including pharmaceutical, leather and automobile across the country.

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