Rathi Vinay Jha is the first woman to head the Fashion Design Council of India since its formation in 1998. Jha, who was a part of the team that set up the National Institute of Fashion Technology in 1987, has plenty of ideas and plans to promote and escalate her country’s fashion industry.

“We have lots of things coming up,” she said at a press conference, as reports newkerala.com.

“We want to not only have more events relating to fashion but also push in areas of training and education.”

Commenting on the council’s plans to hold two fashion weeks following the international calendar, spring/summer and autumn/winter, Jha said, “it depends on how organized we are.”

Some upcoming events of this year, especially important for India’s relatively tiny $2 billion fashion industry as the final period of the country’s textile quota regime, include a new couture event to showcase India’s proficiency in ethnic and heavily embellished traditional clothes and regional events to encourage investing in training.

“I see greater opportunity than ever before for the Indian fashion industry to really come into its own,” said the new chief of the apex fashion industry body of the country.