NIFT, Patna, students attend the graduation ceremony at a city hotel on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, May 24: India, it seems, has finally arrived to take the lead in the world of fashion.

So was the view of the dignitaries present at the graduation ceremony of the 2011 batch of master of fashion management, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna, at a city hotel today.

They were also not too far from the mark, as the 28 students of the batch had similar visions.

One among them, Chetan Singh, quoted the American business magnate, Donald Trump, as part of his vision: “You are going to be thinking anyway…think big.”

The fashion institute organised its second graduation ceremony of the masters degree course. Not only were the students felicitated at the end of their two years, three graduation projects were also presented.

Rammanohar Lingam SD, a student of the 2011-batch of fashion management, was awarded for the best project.

Rammanohar, who presented his graduation project on “Creating a tool for cost benchmarking for prints in Nike and competition mapping based on sourcing cost of Nike and other competing brands”, said: “Success will never be a big step in future, rather it is a small step taken now.”

Satish Chandra Jha, the director of NIFT, Patna, said: “The 2011-batch of masters in fashion management is the second masters batch to graduate from our campus. Since 2008, the NIFT, Patna, campus has been based at Udyog Bhavan near Gandhi Maidan. But, hopefully, soon the institute will get its own building at Mithapur.

“At present, NIFT, Patna, runs two courses — a four-year bachelor degree in fashion design and a two-year masters in fashion management. We will surely think of starting new courses once we get our permanent accommodation. But I am happy that our last batch (the 2010 masters batch) got cent per cent placement in reputed firms like Arvind and Pantaloons. I hope that this batch, too, bring laurels for the institute and themselves,” Jha added.

V. Mukunda Das, the director of Chandragupt Institute of Management, Patna, and chief guest on the occasion, Rajeev Kumar, commissioner, telecom, Bihar circle, Uday Bhan Tiwari, joint commissioner, telecom, Bihar circle, K.C. Bajpeyee, faculty member, Birla Institute of Technology, Patna, and Sanjay Shrivastav, centre co-ordinator, NIFT, Patna, were also present.

Rajeev told the graduating students: “Fashion trends have mostly been defined by the Europeans and Americans. But it will be great if we, Indians, can influence the fashion globally. Fashion changes very fast — you have to keep yourself open to innovations and creativity so that we are recognised outside India too.”

Tiwari voiced Rajeev’s opinions and added that now was the time for India to take the lead in the fashion world.

The chief guest, Das, said: “Creativity is something that can never be forced. It comes from within. All of you (the students) are very lucky to have such creativity. It is said that we imbibe fashion trends from the West — create a situation so that the West imbibes trends from us.”

Das also suggested a fashion week based on the fashion trends of Bihar. “You could come across many unique patterns and dress designs if you organise such unique programmes. Bihar has a rich tradition and you can come up with many exclusive pieces if you organise such a fashion week,” he said.

Das also urged for a fashion park to be set up by the government. “If there are IT parks and other industrial set-ups, why can’t there be a fashion park? The alumni of NIFT can lend their assistance in such a project,” Das said.