The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on February 26, 2020 gave its approval to set up a National Technical Textiles Mission with a total outlay of Rs 1480 Crore, with a view to position the country as a global leader in Technical Textiles.
The Mission would have a four year implementation period from FY 2020-21 to 2023-24.
- The Mission will have four components:
- Component -l (Research, Innovation and Development) with outlay of Rs. 1000 Crore. This component will promote both (i) fundamental research at fibre level aiming at path breaking technological products in Carbon Fibre, Aramid Fibre, Nylon Fibre, and Composites and (ii) application based research in geo-textiles, agro-textiles, medical textiles, mobile textiles and sports textiles and development of biodegradable technical textiles.
- Component -II (Promotion and Market Development): Indian Technical Textiles segment is estimated at USD 16 Billion which is approximately 6% of the 250 Billion USD global technical textiles market. The penetration level of technical textiles is low in India varying between 5-10% against the level of 30-70% in developed countries. The Mission will aim at average growth rate of 15-20% per annum taking the level of domestic market size to 40-50 Billion USD by the year 2024; through market development, market promotion, international technical collaborations, investment promotions and ‘Make in India’ initiatives.
- Component – III (Export Promotion): The component aims at export promotion of technical textiles enhancing from the current annual value of approximately Rs.14000 Crore to Rs.20000 Crore by 2021-22 and ensuring 10% average growth in exports per year upto 2023-24. An Export Promotion Council for Technical Textiles will be set up for effective coordination and promotion activities in the segment.
- Component- IV (Education, Training, Skill Development): Education, skill development and adequacy of human resources in the country is not adequate to meet the technologically challenging and fast growing technical textiles segment. The Mission will promote technical education at higher engineering and technology levels related to technical textiles and its application areas covering engineering, medical, agriculture, aquaculture and dairy segments. Skill development will be promoted and adequate pool of highly skilled manpower resources will be created for meeting the need of relatively sophisticated technical textiles manufacturing units.
What is Technical Textiles?
- Technical textiles are textiles materials and products manufactured primarily for technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic characteristics. Technical Textiles products are divided into 12 broad categories (Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Protech, Sportstech, Oekotech, Packtech) depending upon their application areas.
- India shares nearly 6% of world market size of 250 Billion USD. However, the annual average growth of the segment is 12%, as compared to 4% world average growth.
- Penetration level of technical textiles is low in India at 5-10%, against 30-70% in advanced countries. The Mission aims at improving penetration level of technical textiles in the country.
