new delhi vesting the task of making india the worlds fashion capital with the national institute of fashion technology president a p j abdul kalam on thursday suggested that the institute should begin by working to triple garment exports in the next three yearsfor increasing the exports of apparel and garments from six billion dollars at present to 1820 billion dollars intense collaboration between nift textile research associations textile industrialists and the government would be required a mission mode programme should emerge for this he said here at the convocation of niftby tripling the export of apparels we can add more than 5 million direct jobs and 7 million indirect jobs in allied sector primarily in the cultivation of cotton kalam saidhe said if the innate indian art were married with technology modern fashion design can emergeour aim should be to create brand india design using our cultural heritage the aim of such brand india design should be to penetrate the minds of men and women spread in all parts of the world through our unique products this will enable india to tread its own path instead of proceeding in the beaten path the president saidthis would enable ministry of textiles to achieve an export target of 70 billion dollars in fashion design and lifestyle products compared to the present 23 billion dollars in the next five years kalam saidkalam said concerted efforts were needed in cotton research technology generation transfer of technology modernisation and upgrading of ginning and pressing factories and aggressive marketing strategystudents and faculty members should participate in the total activity from cotton research to marketing this will be akin to the second green revolution for food grains nift may initiate missions to embed fashion in our textile industry big and small so that indian textile products from yarn to garments carry innovative ideas for the final fashion he addedstressing the need for improving cotton productivity he said the nift can have a linkage with agricultural research and the farming community to specify the special qualities needed in the cotton production for making the indian cotton competitive in the international marketindia can definitely produce 25 per cent of the total world production of quality cotton compared to the existing 12 per cent leading to revenue of over rs 25000 crore a year for the nation the president said