India’s minister of textiles Piyush Goyal has announced the approval of 18 research and development (R&D) projects in the field of technical textiles. The projects, valued at ₹46.74 crore, were approved during the 7th Meeting of the Mission Steering Group (MSG) of National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) in New Delhi.

The initiative covers a broad spectrum of technical textiles, including geotech, protech, indutech, sustainable textiles, sportech, smart e-textiles, and meditech. Of these, 14 are categorised as high-value projects, three are Prototype Grant projects, and one is an Ideation Grant project. Leading institutes and research bodies such as Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA), Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA), IIT Delhi, IIT Jammu, NIT Jalandhar, IIT Kharagpur, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) New Delhi, and IIT Madras are spearheading the approved projects, the ministry of textiles said in a media release.

In the meeting, minister Goyal also reviewed various components of the National Technical Textiles Mission. He emphasised the need for R&D in globally imported technical textiles and specialty fibres. On the educational front, 26 applications from public and private institutes, valued at ₹151.02 crore, were approved for training and skill development in the technical textiles sector.

Senior officials from NITI Aayog, ministry of commerce and industry, ministry of road transport and highways, ministry of heavy industries, ministry of railways, ministry of jal shakti, department of expenditure, department of higher education, department for promotion of industry and internal trade and members from other ministries, and eminent members from the industry attended the meeting.