If China wants to set up manufacturing bases and shift its export base to India, Italy is eyeing the nation as a sourcing hub.

According to textile industry sources, firms from Shaoxing, the textile capital of Asia, are on a hunt to find Indian partners here to set up bases.

A delegation of government officials and businessmen from Shaoxing were on a visit to India for this purpose last month.

Officials said the objective of the visit was to gauge opportunities in India and explore the possibility of Chinese textile companies using India as an export base.

China feels that being the largest textile centre in Asia, it should ally with India, a country with a rich tradition in textiles. It seems China wants to promote Shaoxing and also see how Chinese businessmen can work in India.

In another development, Roberto Formigoni, chief minister of Italy's state of Lombardy, on his visit to India, said his country is interested in sourcing its entire textile needs from India if textile designers and manufacturers in India adopt Italian style and their concept of textile designing and manufacturing.

The Engineering University of Milan, Italy & Banyan Tree Holdings Have entered into a joint venture to establish the project Idea Factory in the country.

The Idea Factory will promote export promotion, fashion designing, training, digital operations, design development, and business facilitation.

Back to China, Shaoxing, a three-hour trip from Shanghai, is home to all the elements of the textile manufacturing chain. The county produces 4.2 billion metres of fabric annually and has 35,000 sets of shuttleless weaving machines.

According to the Chinese delegation, India had an advantage in labour resources both in quality and quantity.

Moreover, India has a lot of raw material, particularly cotton, which Chinese companies are looking for. Again, the strong presence of Indian businessmen and traders in Shaoxing will also help the cause.