INDIAN
TECHNICAL TEXTILES
Technical
Textiles has often been referred to as the sunshine sector in India and there is
little doubt about the growth of technical textiles industry in the years to
come. Technical textiles are functional fabrics which have applications in a
very diverse range of economic activities including automobiles, civil
engineering and construction, agriculture, healthcare, industrial safety,
personal protection etc. Based on the
usage there are 12 segments of technical textiles which are Agrotech, Meditech,
Buildtech, Mobiltech, Clothtech, Oekotech, Geotech, Packtech, Hometech,
Protech, Indutech andSportech.
Technical
Textiles is the emerging field for investments in India. The production of different
items of technical textile industry has been slowly but steadily increasing in
the country. As per the baseline survey of technical textile industry in India,
the market size of technical textiles in India is estimated at Rs. 63, 202
Crore during the year 2011-12 which has grown from Rs. 41,756 Crore in the year
2007-08 with annual growth of 11% year on year basis. As per the sub-group on
technical textile for 12th five year plan, it is expected that the technical
textile industry market size will reach Rs. 1,58,540 Crore by the year 2016-17
with a growth rate of 20% year on year basis.
The
enablers for such a market growth include:
a. Growth of Industry Sectors
A
large number of technical textile products are consumed by different industries
like automotive, healthcare, infrastructure, oil & petroleum, etc. With
increase in investments in industry sectors, higher consumption and growing
exports, the industrial sector is poised for a considerable growth.
b.
Increasing Per Capita Income of Consumer
As
per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Central Statistics
Organisation, the per capita income at current prices during 2011-12 is
estimated to be Rs. 60,972 as compared to Rs. 53,331 during 2010-11, showing a
rise of 14.3 per cent. The future growth in income is still expected to be
more, riding on a healthy growth of economy. This rise will enable the
consumers to make more discretionary expenditure on technical textile products.
c.
Increasing Adaptability Level/Acceptance of Products
With
growing awareness, consumer will realize, and be willing to pay for the
superior functionality of technical textile products like wipes, diapers,
sanitary napkins, disposable sheets, pads, etc.
Fully
cognizant of the market potential of technical textiles in India, the Ministry
of Textiles has taken a series of measures to develop this sector in India:
1. Scheme for Growth and
Development of Technical Textiles (SGDTT)
SGDTT was launched during 2007-08 of
XIth Five Year Plan with three components.
The scheme has already completed its
tenure in the year 2010-11. The scheme comprised of three main components
namely Baseline Survey, Awareness Campaigns and Creation of Centres of
Excellence.
- Baseline survey of technical textile
industry in India was conducted to create a data base of technical textile
industry statistics relevant for stakeholders in India. The report is hosted by
our website www.technotex.gov.in.
- Creation of Awareness: More than 60
awareness programmes/seminars/workshops were organized in association with TRAs/COEs/Industry
Associations like CII, FICCI across the country.
- Setting
up of four Centres of Excellence (COEs): Four COEs (BTRA for Geotech, SASMIRA
for Agrotech, NITRA for Protech & SITRA for Meditech) have been set up for
4 thrust segments of the technical textiles to provide infrastructure support
in terms of testing, training , information centre etc. at one place for the convenience
of the manufacture of technical textiles.
2.
Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT):
Ministry
of Textiles has launched the Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT)
with two mini- missions for a period of five years (from 2010-11 to 2014-15) with
a fund outlay of Rs. 200 Crore during December 2010. The details of the missions
are as given below:
Mini-Mission- I: The
objective of Mini Mission I is to Strengthen the R&D in the Technical
Textiles Industry, to create infrastructure for testing of technical textiles,
to emphasize on role of regulation and facilitate the process of development of
standards for various technical textile products. In line with these
objectives, the Mini Mission I consists of upgradation of 4 existing COEs
already established in Agrotech (Synthetic & Art Silk Mills' Research
Association, SASMIRA, Mumbai, Maharashtra), Geotech (The Bombay Textile
Research Association, BTRA, Mumbai, Maharashtra), Protech (Northern India
Textile Research Association NITRA, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh) and Meditech
(South India Textile Research Association
SITRA, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) under Scheme for Growth and Development
of Technical Textiles (SGDTT) and setting up of 4 new additional COEs. The new
COEs are being established in the field of Nonwovens (DKTE Society’s Textile
and Engineering Institute DKTE, Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra), Composites
(Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association ATIRA, Ahmedabad, Gujarat),
Indutech (PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) and Sportech (Wool
Research Association WRA, Mumbai, Maharashtra) to support the technical textile manufacturersin their
respective segments.
Mini-Mission-II:
Basic objective of Mini Mission II is to
support for domestic & export market development technical textiles. There
are six interventions through which government has attempted to achieve the
stated objective of domestic and export market development.
The
interventions are:-
I.
Support for business start-up
Technical
Textiles is a new field and entrepreneurs especially from SME sector find it
difficult to start a project on technical textiles. The government has empanelled
consultants to do the hand holding of the potential entrepreneurs till the
completion of the projects. These consultants provide end to end service to the
potential investors including product selection, technology definition and procurement,
market assessment, commercialization and marketing assistance.
II. Providing fund support for
organizing workshops
The
awareness about the technical textiles is still low amongst the stake holders.
In order to create the awareness about technical textiles, reputed National and
International agencies including the Indian Diaspora settled abroad are being
invited to conduct Seminars, Workshops and short term training programmes.
III. Social compliance through
standardization, regulatory measures
Consultants
are being engaged to identify the needed regulatory changes required along with
international best practices.
IV.
Market development Support for marketing support to bulk and institutional
buyers etc.
Under
the Scheme Buyers-sellers meet are being organized across the country wherein
all the stakeholders are invited under one umbrella to discuss the business
opportunities, showcase products, attend seminars etc.
V.
Market development Support for export sales
There
are many reputed technical textile fairs organized abroad. The participation in
these fares will improve the export potential of the indigenous manufacturers.
The support includes participation in Technical Textile fairs/Application based
fairs by the Indian technical textile manufacturers to exhibit their products.
VI.
Contract Research and Development through IITs/TRAs/Textile Institutes
Technical
textiles is high technology area where most of the new material highend
converted products are imported, there is strong need for indigenous development
of products for which R&D is of prime importance. Therefore, support is
being provided for contract research under this intervention.
3.
Pilot Scheme for Promotion and Application of Geotextiles in North East Region
A
Pilot Scheme for Promotion and Application of Geotextiles in North East Region with
an outlay of Rs 500 Crore has been announced in the 12th Five Year
Plan. The Scheme envisages fund support from Ministry of Textiles for
application of geotextiles in road construction, slope protection and river
bank erosion control projects in the North East. The scheme coverage has been
bifurcated into hard and soft components, where hard component will cover the
cost of geotextile products to be used in projects, while soft component will
target capacity building through initiatives, such as, training of engineers,
organizing awareness programs, stakeholder workshops and monitoring performance
of projects where geotextiles have been used.
4.
Pilot Scheme for Promotion and Application of Agrotextiles in North East Region
A
Pilot Scheme for Promotion and Application of Agrotextiles in North East Region
with an outlay of Rs 50 Crore has been announced in the 12th Five Year Plan. The aim is to utilise
Agrotextiles in improving the horticulture and floricultural produce of the North
Eastern States. With increasing acceptability of Agroextiles, entrepreneurship in
the area of agrotextile production in the country will get an impetus. The
growth of 4 usage of Agrotextiles products in the country will thus benefit
both agriculturists as well as textile entrepreneurs in the country.
5.
FDI Promotion Initiatives
Realizing
that technology transfer is one of the key success factors in establishing large
scale manufacturing units in field of technical textiles, Government has taken
a large number of steps to encourage FDI in this sector. FDI up to 100% is
allowed in this segment under automatic route and there are several Central and
State government agencies to facilitate the process of investment by
international players.
6.
The other Initiatives of the Ministry of Textiles for Technical textiles are:-
- Major machinery for manufacture of
technical textiles has been covered under Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme
(TUFS)
- The major machinery for production of
technical textiles is covered in the concessional customs duty list of 5%.
- Specified technical textile products are
covered under Focus Product Scheme. Under this scheme, exports of these
products are entitled for duty credit scrip equivalent to 2% of FOB value of
exports.
- Scheme
for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP)