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Technical textiles converters to benefit from new TUFs

31 Mar '11

3 min read

The Office of the Textile Commissioner – Mumbai in association with Man-Made Textiles Research Association (MANTRA) – Surat organised a national symposium on “Technical Textiles: Technology for Growth” in Ahmedabad on March 30, 2011.

“Technical textiles are a pure research based segment of textiles with an estimated global market size of US $127 billion, of which the Indian contribution is around 10 percent, despite it being the second biggest textile economy in the world”, said Mr AK Hazra, Deputy Director, Regional Office of Textile Commissioner – Ahmedabad, in his welcome address.

He spoke about the various segments, where technical textile products have been able to make a foothold like aerospace, railways, automobiles, civil engineering, electronics, agriculture, sports and even the human body by way of implants.

He informed about the various policies formulated and the incentives and subsidies made available by the Indian government, to provide a thrust to the still nascent Indian technical textiles sector and take it to around $15.7 billion by fiscal 2012-13, from around $12 billion in the previous fiscal.

He said the Ministry of Textiles has set up four 'Centres of Excellence' (CoE) across India and have been equipped with testing equipments of global standards. To address the various challenges, faced by the sector in India, the textiles ministry has formulated a five-year policy, he added by saying.

One of the eminent speakers who provided the keynote address was, Mr Arun Jariwala. He is the President of MANTRA and founder President of the newly constituted; Technical Textiles Association.

He informed that the newly refurbished Technology Up-gradation Fund scheme (TUFs) would be announced shortly. He further said, the new TUFs would also include benefits for converters of technical textiles, which along with generating employment would also help boost the sector.

Dr Chandan Chatterjee, General Manager (Project & Technology – iNDEXTb) and Director – The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Government of Gujarat spoke forth on the policies and incentives formulated by the Gujarat government to ensure rapid growth of the burgeoning sector in the state.

The still nascent technical textiles sector is a key emerging area with over 860 units in Gujarat (as per Government of Gujarat's survey report). The Gujarat government is also taking a very big initiative in the all-round development of the technical textile sector, he said.

Other eminent speakers were Mr Ayan Chakraborty, General Manager, Ginni Filament, who informed about the costing in production of wipes, Prof. PB Jhala, FCIPT-Institute for Plasma Research – Gandhinagar spoke about the design, materials and manufacture of high altitude clothing.

Dr RG Patil from Agriculture University – Navsari gave a superb presentation on use of agro-textiles in increasing yields of various crops. Mr Shri Kamal Shah, Director - Positive Aggression, informed about the capital costs and return on investment (ROI) in setting up a spunbond nonwovens production line.

Technicaltextile.net