INDIAN TECHNICAL TEXTILES

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 12^th 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 12^th  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)

Source Web Site: www.technotex.gov.in