India’s ministry of textiles has cleared 20 strategic research projects worth around ₹74 crore in the areas of agrotextiles, speciality fibre, smart textiles, activewear textiles, strategic application areas, protective gear, and apparel sports textiles under the chairmanship of cabinet minister Piyush Goyal on November 1, 2022. The strategic research projects fall under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) flagship programme.

Among these 20 research projects, five projects of speciality fibres, six projects of agro-textiles, two projects from smart textiles, two from protective gear and apparel, two from geotextiles, one from activewear apparels, one from strategic application area, and one from sports textiles were cleared, according to a press release by the ministry of textiles.

The minister provided his inputs pertaining to technical textiles for the meeting along with the officials from different line ministries. Leading Indian institutes including IITs, government organisations, research organisations, and eminent industrialists, among others participated in the session which cleared projects strategic for the development of Indian economy and a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, especially in the field of geotech, industrial and protective, agriculture, and infrastructure.

“Industry and academia linkages are essential for the growth of research and development in the application areas of technical textiles in India. Building convergence with academicians, scientists and researchers is the need of the hour,” said Goyal, minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and textiles, while addressing the group of scientists and technical technologists.

Goyal emphasised the importance of contributions of technology and segment experts, scientists, and academicians to India’s technical textiles future growth.

Despite the prominent usage of speciality fibres in India, indigenisation of the technology has still been a major challenge which needs collaborative interventions from both industry and academia, he further added.

The minister further emphasised on robust indigenisation of machineries and equipment for the technical textile sector to establish sustained and strong foothold in the global landscape.

Revision of R&D guidelines and creation of dedicated indigenous machinery and equipment development guidelines under the NTTM were discussed and recommended by the committee during the meeting, added the release.

To bolster the innovation and research ecosystem in technical textiles, the NTTM will support ideation and prototyping R&D projects worth up to ₹50 lakhs and ₹100 lakhs respectively, which have clear potential to translate into commercial products and technologies.