Coimbatore branch opening function largely attended
The Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) is an industry think-tank that facilitates the usage and production of technical textiles in India, thereby helping the industry grow internally and become a key player in the international market.
Given that the Government policy has played a critical role in the advancement of technical textiles, ITTA is expected to maintain close interaction with the Government in formulating a national technical textiles policy that focuses on removing the ambiguities in the system that are hampering the growth of the sector, help bring legislation that will help spur usage in India and recommend fiscal and non-fiscal norms that will assist the industry in achieving its true potential.
Explaining the expanding role of the Association, Mrs. Shashi Singh, Executive Director, ITTA, told The Textile Magazine that it is the only association of the technical textile industry in the country with more than 200 members. The main objective is to promote, support, develop and increase production, consumption and export of technical textiles to make India a power-house of technical textiles in the days to come.
ITTA aims to become a premier organization for representing the industry’s interests and for creating a policy environment that assembles and addresses the concerns of the stake-holders in the technical textile sector. The Association is expected to become an ideal forum for overseas and domestic companies to explore the vast potential available for JVs, strategic and marketing alliances, joint product development, etc., by organizing business meets with delegates from different countries. ITTA will disseminate various policies, market information and relevant statistics to its members.
ITTA regularly engages both the Central and State Governments on issues of relevance to the industry. It also provides a number of value-added services such as networking events with government and industry exports, identification and assessment of market growth opportunities, facilitating technology transfer/JVs with foreign companies, providing platforms to members to showcase their strengths, and dissemination of government policies and schemes.
Regional office in Coimbatore opened
The inauguration function of ITTA’s new regional office at SIMA building Coimbatore was held on April 20 in the presence of Mr. Sujit Gulati, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, and Mr. A.B. Joshi, Textile Commissioner, as the Guest of Honour. Also present were Mr. Mohan Kavrie, ITTA Chairman, Mr. S. Dinakaran, SIMA Chairman, Mr. S.V. Arumugam, CITI Chairman, and Mr. M. Senthil Kumar, Vice Chairman, ITTA and SIMA. Mr. T. Rajkumar, Deputy Chairman, SIMA, presided over the function.
“With the demand increasing at a robust pace, the technical textiles sector would clock 18-20% growth year-on-year during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2012-17)”, said Mr. Sujit Gulati in his address at the inauguration function.
Mr. Joshi emphasised that more than 30 per cent of the nation’s requirement of raw materials for technical textiles is being met through imports, and highlighted that close to Rs. 60,000 crores would be generated in technical textiles within a few years.
Mr. Mohan Kavrie spoke on the growing sectors within the technical textiles industry in India, viz., Medical (Medtech), Geo-Textiles (Geotech), Protective Textiles (Protech) & Agricultural Textiles (Agrotech). He also highlighted the growing role of ITTA and the newly-opened Centres of Excellence across the country.
Mr. Arumugam, in his address, said: “We need to give more incentives for weaving, processing and technical textiles which alone can attract investments and improve value addition. At the same time, we need not restrict investments in the spinning and composite sectors which are most efficient and globally competitive. The allocation for TUFS during the 12th Plan is Rs. 11,952 crores. We may fix some cap for the spinning and composite sectors which have a lion’s share of over 60% and may have flexibility in attracting investments in the remaining sectors.”
Mr. Dinakaran, in his address, highlighted that the Southern Region, particularly Tamil Nadu, is predominantly cotton-based and accounts for one-third of the textile business, 47.5 per cent of the spinning capacity in the country, over five lakh powerlooms, 70 per cent of the cotton knitting capacity, handlooms, etc.
Considering the limitations in making huge investments in non-woven or technical textiles, lack of technical know-how, the risk factors involved in marketing, the inconsistent performance of the textile industry, etc., ITTA will serve as a stop-gap and encourage entrepreneurs in their future decision-making.
As part of the inaugural function, panel discussions were held on “Opportunities and challenges in industrial textiles” and “Opportunities and challenges in medical textiles”. The discussions attracted a large number of local entrepreneurs.