International Textile Conference
Seshadri Ramkumar (second left) of Texas Tech University presenting the ‘First TechniTex Achievement Award’ to E.V.K.S. Elangovan (second right), Union Minister of State for Textiles, at the International Conference on Advances in Textiles, Machinery, Nonwoven and Technical Textiles in Coimbatore on Monday. The Union Government has commissioned a survey of the technical textile industry in the country. Inaugurating a three-day conference on “Advances in Textiles, Machinery, Nonwoven and Technical Textiles” here on Monday, Union Minister of State for Textiles E.V.K.S. Elangovan said the Government had identified ICRA Management Consultancy Services to conduct the survey.Its report was expected by September. The study would throw light on the potential market size of the industry and suggest an action plan to remove the hurdles in the growth of the technical textile industry.
In an effort to facilitate investments in the sector, the Government had brought the machinery needed for technical textiles under the concessional custom duty list of 5 per cent. Further, the machinery was covered under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme and was provided 10 per cent capital subsidy in addition to the 5 per cent interest reimbursement. Four centres of excellence were being established in the country for technical textiles.
The segment currently constituted just 10 per cent of the total textile activity in the country. In industrialised countries, it was over 50 per cent. “To tap the potential of technical textiles a proper action plan is needed,” he said. Bhupendra Singh, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles, said an outlay of Rs. 500 crore was envisaged under the proposed Technology Mission on Technical Textiles. Some of the areas of potential were automotive, agriculture and medical textiles.
According to J.N. Singh, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles, Coimbatore and Surat were likely to emerge as two important centres for technical textiles. He asked the overseas participants to partner the industry in India or directly invest in technical textiles here.Chancellor of Avinashilingam University T.K. Shanmuganandam said this was a promising area for the future. He asked the entrepreneurs to focus on development of new products that met the market needs.
Organising secretary of the conference Seshadri Ramkumar said the Indian textile industry faced hardships because of growing demand for quality cotton at affordable prices and ever increasing fuel prices. However, the industry should diversify to sectors such as technical textiles to avoid a slowdown. The conference was organised jointly by Avinashilingam University and Texas Tech University, the U.S. TechniTex awards were presented to officials and researchers in the field.
