The Indian medical textile industry is going to witness a phenomenal growth in the coming years. The rising public awareness on hygienic healthcare is believed to be the main reason behind this growth.

Mr. S Thiruppathi, Senior Scientific Officer at the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), told technicaltextile.net, “The medical textile sector in India has grown from Rs. 15 billion market in 2007-08 to around Rs. 25 billion in 2011-12, which is a growth of 8 to 9 percent per annum.”

Talking about the future growth expectations, he commented, “According to a study conducted by the Office of The Textile Commissioner, a growth of 14 percent year-on-year in the medical textile industry is expected by 2020.”

Briefing about the SITRA-organized orientation programme on ‘Business opportunities in medical textiles,’ Mr. S. Thiruppathi explains, “In association with the Textiles Committee in Tirupur, a body under the Union Ministry of Textiles, and Palladam HiTech Weaving Park, we held discussions on the manufacturing and marketing procedures of around 2000 medical textile products.”

“We had conducted another programme two months back, which enabled people to convert into entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to industrialists,” he adds.

Speaking about potential of medical textiles in India, he says, “Currently, India imports 70 percent of its medical textiles from foreign countries. So there is lot of growth potential in this sector.”

“SITRA has till now developed eight new medical textile products,” he reveals.