The role of German technology is very crucial for the development of the technical textile sector in India.
This was stated by Mrs. Rita Menon, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, while opening a two-day Conference on German Technology for Indian Technical Textiles jointly organised in Mumbai by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and the VDMA Textile Machinery Association.
She and Mr. A.B. Joshi, Textile Commissioner, who also addressed the inaugural session, referred to the TUFS, the ongoing set-up of the four Centres of Excellences, necessary training and seminar activities and the existing reduction of certain tariffs to 5 per cent for textile machinery imported in to India.
In New Delhi the conference was attended by about 160 individual visitors (220 entries over two days), whereas in Mumbai a total of 290 visitors (350 entries) followed the company presentations held by 18 well-known manufacturers of textile technology. Besides attending the parallel presentations, the visitors made full use of the one-to-one meeting. Most participating companies discussed in detail the requirements of the Indian technical textile producers.
“The visitor numbers in Mumbai clearly show that Mumbai belongs to the most important textile hubs in India and Asia”, stated Boris Abadjieff from VDMA after the conference. The event in Mumbai attracted not only high-ranking business people but also representatives from the textile industry from western and southern India.
The technology lectures were divided into two sections: the production of technical yarns and fabrics on the one side and the finishing process on the other. The visitors were in particular interested in the lectures on the production of technical yarns and fabrics.
All in all, the VDMA member-companies from Germany and Austria presented both basic and innovative solutions for their Indian customers to start or increase technical textiles production. In principle, technical textiles production means that the function determines the finale textile product and not the design as for garments. Moreover, high-quality textile technology (machinery and components such as measuring, testing and control devices) is required along the entire textile chain to ensure that the technical textile produced fulfils the desired function and quality. The speakers also emphasized the advantages of efficient production technology in terms of manufacturing costs, energy and material use.
Among the various technical textiles geotextiles, those for the automotive industry as well as for healthcare and medical applications are the major growing applications in India, among others. Most of the important technical textile manufacturers like Reliance Industries Ltd., Grasim, SRF, Madura Industrial Textiles as well as research institutes and centres of excellence for technical textiles attended the conference.
A number of Government initiatives have already been taken to facilitate reorientation of the Indian textile industry.
However, from the VDMA-point of view there are still obstacles to overcome. Market development of technical textiles in India still has to be intensified. One example is the lack of regulations and standards (e.g., in the area of infrastructure and healthcare), which provides the ground for further use and sustainable growth of technical textiles.
So far, the use of geotextiles is not mandatory in India. If incorporated, this might lead to a spurt in investments in this important field of technical textiles.
VDMA and its member-companies will try to be constantly present in India which was the second most important customer for German textile machinery exports in 2009 (161 million EUR). Therefore, VDMA has recently applied for an official German pavilion at the forthcoming trade fair Texmac India 2011 in Mumbai during March 16-19, 2011.
With the leading role of German textile technology worldwide and the innovative solutions provided by more than 120 member-companies, VDMA is convinced that the German industry is the right partner to successfully support the Indian textile industry in its upgrading activities in the future.