Govt to organise national conclave on technical textiles in Mumbai on Jan 29

The government on Sunday said a national conclave on technical textiles will be held here on January 29, which will also see the release of HSN codes for items under the sector.

The conclave will be presided over by Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani.

The release of HSN codes by the Government of India for technical textiles will be one of the major highlights of the conclave, an official statement said.

"Grateful to PM @narendramodi ji & @sureshpprabhu ji for fulfilling textiles industry's long-standing demand of declaring HSN codes of Technical Textiles items under separate category. 207 items notified as technical textiles will give major boost to the sunrise sector," Irani had said in a tweet earlier.

In another statement, the ministry said the "Artisan Speak" event will be held at UNESCO World Heritage site Elephanta Caves to showcase the rich handloom and textile tradition of India.

Irani will be present on the occasion. Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will also grace the occasion, on behalf of M/s Arvind True Blue Limited.

The occasion will witness commitments by the private sector towards development of handlooms, with the signing of collaborative arrangements between the government and leading retailers and textile brands.

Under the agreements to be signed between Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles and textile companies, Weavers' Service Centres (WSCs) under O/o DC (Handlooms) will act as a facilitator, linking textile companies and handloom clusters.

"The WSCs will enable textile firms to directly source their requirements from handloom clusters, as per defined quality, cost and time constraints. This will also result in better price realisation and improved market understanding for weavers," the statement said.

The government recently notified Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes for 207 technical textile merchandise that were till now traded as conventional textiles.

The technical textile sector is the sunshine sector for the textile industry and it is one of the fastest growing segments of the Indian economy.

The sector is expected to see a double digit growth in coming years and is projected to reach a market size of Rs 2 lakh crore by 2020-21.

As per baseline survey of technical textile industry in India, there are around 2,100 units manufacturing technical textiles in the country and most of them are concentrated in Gujarat followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. India has 4-5 per cent share in the global technical textiles market size across twelve segments.

Technical textiles constitute 12-15 per cent of the total textile value chain in India, whereas in some of the European countries technical textiles constitute 50 per cent of the total textiles value chain.