National Technical Textiles Mission: Centre clears 23 strategic projects

The Ministry of Textiles cleared 23 strategic research projects worth around Rs 60 crores in the areas of specialty fibres, sustainable textiles, geotextiles, mobiltech and sports textiles under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Textiles Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday, informed the Ministry of Textiles on Friday.

These strategic research projects fall under the flagship programme 'National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).

Among these 23 Research projects, 12 Projects of Speciality Fibres having application areas in Agriculture, Smart Textiles, Healthcare, Strategic Application and Protective gears were cleared. 4 Projects from Sustainable Textiles having application areas in Agriculture and Healthcare sectors were cleared. Also, five projects from Geotextile, one from Mobiltech and one from Sportech were cleared, informed the Ministry.

Member NITI Aayog (Science & Tech) & Principle Scientific Advisor (PSA) provided inputs pertaining to Technical Textile for the meeting along with Line Ministries. Various leading Indian Institutes including IITs, Government Organizations, and Eminent Industrialists, among others, participated in the session which cleared projects strategic for the development of the Indian economy and a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, especially in the Healthcare, Industrial and Protective, Energy Storage, Agriculture and Infrastructure.

While addressing the esteemed group of Scientists and Technical Technologists, Piyush Goyal said, "Industry and Academia connect 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."

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

The Textile Minister highlighted that the technological gap in the country needs to be addressed in the field of technical textiles. Identification of the area of research in technical textiles with industry interaction and promotional activities like conferences, exhibitions, and buyer-seller meetings to promote the use of Technical textiles in the country and to increase the exports to be the key focus areas.