'Govt to focus on R&D under National Technical Textiles Mission'

NEW DELHI: Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India on Friday said that the government will focus on Research and Development of technical textiles under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) to increase penetration of these items in Indian market.

Addressing the '5th National Conclave on Standards for Technical Textiles' on the theme Building Standards for India@2047, organised by FICCI, jointly with the Ministry of Textiles and BIS, Singh said, "Technical textiles is a sunrise sector, and we collectively have to work to increase its penetration in the domestic market."

He added that to further boost the technical textiles, the government has taken a series of initiatives in last 2 years including introduction of PLI scheme (for man-made and technical textiles) as well as setting up of the National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM). He stated that the main job of NTTM is in R&D and with the increase in use of technical textiles, there is a need to enhance the R&D.

"Whatever we need to do to promote technical textiles including formulation of standards, we all need to work together including government, BIS and the industry," highlighted Singh.

Emphasising on the need for standardisation in technical textiles for better quality, Singh said, "We can't ensure a quality unless we have standards. There has to be uniformity in standards as well. We need to have revision of standards also from time to time." Further, he said that government is planning to hold deliberation on Quality Control order (QCO) for certain technical textiles items shortly. "The quality control orders will be mandatory and will take these steps in consultation with the industry so that the industry, especially indigenous industry is not affected," he added.

Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, Director General, Border Roads Organisation said that technical textiles play an important role in building roads at border region. He also urged the industry to come forward and support in building new infrastructure. "We construct various roads, tunnel, airports, at extreme weather conditions and at times with lack of adequate technical support. We need industry to support us by finding solution to these problems at borders. We have been collaborating various technical institutions, industry as well as academia. Already, BRO has been using geo-textiles in large number of areas," he added.

Rajeev Sharma, Deputy Director General (Standardization), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said that India is expected to become a key market characterised by growing consumption due to its cost effectiveness, durability and versatility of technical textiles. Over 500 standards have been developed by BIS for technical textiles so far and around 40 more are in pipeline.

Rajinder Gupta, Chair, FICCI Textiles Committee & Chairman, Trident Ltd while addressing virtually said that Technology is changing rapidly and technical textiles with their wide applications can play a crucial role in country's transformation in next twenty-five years.