Interview with Dr Anup Rakshit

Global market size of technical textiles was around US $256 billion in 2019 and average growth rate is 4 per cent (CAGR). The Indian market of technical textiles is over US $19 billion (Rs1.45 lakh crores) with an average growth rate of 12 per cent (CAGR). 

As per the International Trade Centre (ITC) at 6-digit HS Code level data for the financial year 2019-20, the top globally traded technical textile products are in the categories of medical-hygiene, industrial, protective, automotive textiles and various types of nonwoven fabrics. The traded value in each product category ranges from US $14 to 22 billion.

Top four global exporters of technical textiles are US-23 per cent, Western Europe-22 per cent, China-13 per cent, Japan-7 per cent. India's current global share is around 6 per cent with 12 per cent CAGR. Indian technical textile industry can grow exponentially if the appropriate strategy and eco-systems are in place. To accelerate the export growth rate, there is an urgent need to form an Export Promotion Council (EPC) exclusively for technical textiles. However, the National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM) scheme on technical textiles and Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme on technical textiles and MMF announced by the government - both put together can give boost to the technical textile industry in coming years.

Medical, hygiene and packaging are some of the largest markets in India. Indian defence is one of the largest consumers of a variety of technical textiles. Agriculture and horticulture, construction sector- building, highways/roads, railways and dams (geosynthetics), fire fighters, leisure sports, etc are the other major growing markets in India.

The Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Commerce & Industries notified 207 technical textile items/products in early 2019, though many products are yet to be added in the list because our industry is booking them under "Others" category in absence of specific HSN codes for these products. 

India's export in FY 2019-20 is about USD 2.04 billion for 207 technical textile items. The growth rate is approximately 12-13 per cent over last year and import is also almost similar to export. Though there is a dip in the export/import value in the FY 2020-21 because of the Covid pandemic situation in the country as well as in the world.

As per the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) data, the trend in export and import of technical textile products varies from year-to-year depending on the domestic and global market situations. In the year 2019-20, the list of top few products are given below-

a) Top few exported technical textile products: 

b) Top few imported technical textile products- 

ITTA has currently over 325 members and they contributed 75.31 per cent to the total exports of technical textile products from India in FY 2019-20. It represents the entire technical textile value chain from raw material to finished goods producers, machinery manufacturers, consultants, Centre of Excellence (COE) and R&D institutions. The objective of ITTA is to promote, support, develop and increase the production, consumption, and export of technical textiles to make India a powerhouse of technical textiles in the days to come.  

Acting as "The Voice of Indian Technical Textile Industry", ITTA regularly takes up issues raised by the industry members with the government bodies. Policy advocacy with central and various state governments is another key activity. As a result of the initiatives taken by ITTA and providing extensive inputs from the industry given by ITTA, some of the major policies recently announced by the government are listed below-

ITTA is now connected with international organisations. It has recently signed MOU with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of The World Bank Group, to grow and develop international quality PPE coveralls and masks industry in India.

      

During last few years, ITTA has signed MOU with the Textile Institute (TI), Manchester, UK to promote technical textiles in India in collaboration with them. It also signed MOU with Taiwan Technical Textiles Association (TTTA) and a member of EDANA to promote technical textiles in India.

ITTA has many future plans to help the industry grow at a faster pace. Some of them are: 

During this Covid pandemic period, meditech sector of technical textile has significantly contributed in terms of developing and supplying PPE coveralls and various types of face masks (2/3 ply, N95, N99 types). The production of PPE coveralls rose from as low as a couple of thousand pieces to 4.50 to 5.00 lakh pieces per day in India by strengthening the supply chain. Number of labs for testing these products also showed a significant increase to cope up with the testing load. All these happened within 4-5 months which showed the tenacity and capability of our industry. Basic spun bond nonwoven fabric was available in sufficient quantity, but melt blown nonwovens were not enough. At that time there were only 4-5 manufacturers of melt blown nonwovens, but the same number has now increased to nearly 50.

The demand for these products is going to remain for a longer time both in the domestic and global market. In addition to meeting domestic demand, the Indian medical textile industry should look for increasing exports. For this, the industry has to work towards developing PPE products of high quality international standards. Also it will require to plug-in few gaps, such as setting up critical testing facilities of N95/N99 masks, manufacturing machinery, testing instruments, implementing quality management systems and obtaining country specific product certifications. (PC)