Textiles minister for tapping potential of technical textiles

Since standardisation has been notified, India can become one of the most competitive economies in the field of technical textiles, Union minister Smriti Irani said Sunday.

Speaking after inaugurating a three-day 'reverse buyers sellers meet' and Global Textile Expo here, she told the foreign buyers from over 20 countries that India recently ensured that HSN codes were notified for over 207 textile items.

In the area of cotton, India has a surging potential particularly in the field of medical textiles; and because of standardisation, the country can become the most competitive economies in the technical textiles, she said.

The minister also appealed to Tamil Nadu to unleash the untapped potential so that the state can be at the forefront.

She further said that the technical textiles market is likely to touch USD 3 billion in another two-and-a-half years.

Amongst all the schemes that has been enunciated and presented to the textile industry, she said, most of the benefits have been accrued and established by Tamil Nadu.

Irani also highlighted various schemes where Tamil Nadu gained the most, which include yarn bank scheme, powertex, powerloom cluster, group insurance scheme under social security and also GST.

Stating that the visiting foreign buyers may be wondering why she was talking about the schemes, subsidies and taxation in this meet, which was to initiate buyers and sellers, the minister said, "We are hoping to lessen the burden on our units so that they become competitive in terms of price. We become best price point."