The Ministry of Textiles is committed to working closely with all the stakeholders by setting up four Centres of Excellences (COEs), one each on Non-Wovens, Sportetch, Indutech and Composites, said Mr. Sujit Gulati, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, in his inaugural address at the Conference on Technical Textiles with focus on Health & Infrastructure sectors organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Coimbatore.
He said out of the four COEs, three new Centres of Excellence have been designated, at PSG College on Indutech in Coimbatore, DKTE College on Non-Wovens at Ichalkaranji, and at ATIRA on Composites in Ahmedabad which provides support for the domestic and export market development of technical textiles and support for business start-ups.
As per David Rigby Associates, he said, the global market size of technical textiles was $127 billion for 2010, and it is expected to reach $127 billion by 2012-13 at an annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent. As per Baseline survey, the market size of technical textiles in India is estimated at Rs. 63,204 crores during 2010-11, and based on the past trend of growth, the sub-group on technical textiles for the 11th Five-Year Plan has projected the market size to touch Rs. 1,60,000 crores by 2016-17 with an annual growth rate of 20 per cent. The sub-group has further projected the market size of medical textiles at Rs. 6,000 crores by 2016-17 at a growth rate of 20 per cent.
Mr. Gulati further stated that the Ministry of Textiles is co-ordinating with all the other user Ministries, especially the Ministries of Health & Family Welfare and Road Transport & Highways for inter-ministerial discussion on regulatory measures for the use of technical textiles. This would enhance the usage of medical textiles and geotextiles in the country.
Mr. A.B. Joshi, Textiles Commissioner, in his keynote address, briefed participants on the Technology Mission on Technical Textiles and urged the industry in the region, especially the textile business community and entrepreneurs, to make use of the opportunities in the technical textile sector.
Mr. Manikam Ramaswami, past Chairman of CII-Tamil Nadu, and Chairman and Managing Director, Loyal Textiles Mills Ltd., in his address, said China has 40 COEs dedicated to technical textiles. This explains why China is performing extremely well in the global market, and even competing with the European market.
He said: “Technical Textiles is extremely important in Tamil Nadu as there is huge percentage of students going beyond 10th standard having high aspiration in life. This would be an intellectually rewarding career option for the youth”.
He urged the Government to consider having zero import duty for the growth of technical textiles in India, and suggested that the Government come up with mandatory regulations for safety in industry by using technical textile products and link safety procedures to insurance for the safety of industrial workers.
Mr. T. Kannan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Textiles, and Managing Director, Thiagarajar Mills Pvt. Ltd., in his specialaddress, expressed the view that lack of awareness among the investor community is one of the major bottlenecks that prevented large-scale participation of companies and entrepreneurs, especially from MSMEs, in the technical textile growth story. The textile industry in India is the second largest employment generator afteragriculture, and with the kind of strong industrial base in the industry, textile companies have huge potential to get into the technical textiles sector.
Mr. C.R. Swaminathan, Chief Executive, PSG Industrial Institute, observed that the growth of technical textiles would not only bring in technological advantages in the country but would also help in generating huge employment opportunities.
Earlier, welcoming the delegates to the conference, Mr. Ravi Sam, Chairman, CII Coimbatore Zone, lauded the Government support to CII in conducting the conference in Coimbatore.
The conference was well attended by 170 delegates and speakers from all over the country.