MAM
Top apparel brands at CMAI’s first South India garment fair
BANGALORE: The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) is conducting the first South India garment fair to be held in Bangalore from 13 February to 15 February.
The objective of the fair is to provide all southern garment manufacturers, distributors and retailers a central convenient location at where they can choose from a large variety of fabrics, designs and accessories and place buying orders accordingly. The Fair will be held at the Komarangala Indoor Stadium, and will present a large range of attractive offerings from several leading national and south based garment manufacturers including well known names such as Zodiac, Madura and Weekender.
The Southern garment manufacturing centers such as Tirupur, Chennai and Hyderabad have already become a major contributor to the readymade garment industry with exports of around Rs. 40000 million, while giving employment to almost 300,000 laborers comprising mostly of women from the weaker sections of society. World brand leaders and also top national brands have opened buying offices in Bangalore with many of them adding manufacturing and marketing facilities to keep pace with rapid expansion of this industry.
Says CMAI’s regional committee chairman Satish Mahajan, “While Bangalore has world class manufacturing facilities and the capacity to double the employment opportunities in the next five years, its growth is slowed by poor labor reforms and high input costs such as taxes on raw materials which make the products more expensive compared to competing neighboring countries such as China, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The first evening of the fair will also bring to Bangalore a very special Fashion Show at the Taj Westend where attractive models will showcase select innovative garment designs of 12 leading brands.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
