Growth Potential of Technical Textiles in India
Context:
- The Ministry of Textiles in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) organized a full-day International Conference on Technical Textiles with the theme: Creating the Winning Leap in Technical Textiles. In this conference, there was a dedicated session on ‘CEO Speak’ chaired by Minister of State for Textiles.
- There were six sessions covering Growth & Investment potential in Technical Textiles, Waster material applications in technical textiles, Geo-textiles, Agro-textiles, Specialty fibers, Protective textiles, Sports textiles, and Medical textiles.
What are Technical Textiles?
- Technical textiles are those fabrics that have applications across various industries such as automobiles, agriculture, healthcare, industrial safety, personal protection, construction, etc.
- These technical textiles are classified into 12 types based on its usage: Agrotech, Meditech, Buildtech, Mobiltech, Clothtech, Oekotech, Geotech, Packtech, Hometech, Protech, Indutech and Sportech.
- Oekotech – Textile Products which are produced for environmental protection applications purpose are known as oekotech or ecotech.
India’s Potential:
- Historically India has been a major hub of traditional textiles since ancient times. With modernization there is a demand for these textiles, with huge demographic strength India can certainly contribute to the sector.
- Presently, this sector contributes for 13% of total textiles industry and 0.7% of the total GDP.
- Availability of raw materials such as cotton, wool, jute, and silk along with a strong value chain, low-cost labour, power, and changing consumer trends are some of the contributing factors to India’s growth in this sector.
- But there are challenges associated with it, India is largely lacking behind in Research & Development in this sector.
National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved this mission in 2020 intending to lift India as a global leader in technical textiles and increase their use in the market.
It will be implemented in four years from 2020-21.
It has four components under it pertaining to:
- R&D, Innovation
- Promoting and developing a market for Technical Textiles
- Export Promotion
- Education and skill development
Other Schemes related to it:
- Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP): To boost entrepreneurship by providing financial support and state-of-the-art infrastructure, the scheme was launched in 2005 and has recently been extended for the period between 2017-20.
- Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) Codes for Technical Textile: In 2019, the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India dedicated 207 HSN codes to technical textiles to help in monitoring the data of import and export, in providing financial support and other incentives to manufacturers.
- Production linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles sector: It aims to promote the production of high-value Man-Made Fiber (MMF) fabrics, garments, and technical textiles.
Source: THE HINDU
