Vast potential for technical textiles in India

With a mere 1.7 kg per capita use of technical textiles in India, there was a vast potential for such textiles in the country with a market of Rs 1,400 crore, a senior official of Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) said today.
While the annual per capita use of technical textiles was 16.5 kg in USA and 12 kg in European Union, it was a mere 1.7 kg in India, Shashi Singh, Executive Director, ITTA, said, inaugurating the Indo-Czech International Conference on Technical Textiles, here.
The association was closely working with the Government to make a few applications such as installation of air bag in cars, geo textiles and agri textiles mandatory, which will push up the demand for technical textiles in India, she said.

Many of these products were developed based on customer requirements and hence the users have to work closely with producers and achieve import substitution, she said.
With a slightly long gestation period and high entry barriers and profitability, Coimbatore can become the next hub of technical textiles, she said.
Since there was vast potential for technical textile, various players have to move up the value chain to realise it, Shashi said and appealed to the young entrepreneurs to come up with projects under technology mission under which the Government funded up to 60 per cent of the capital outlay with a cap of Rs 20 lakh.

B Senthilkumar, Deputy Chairman, Southern India Mills Association, said that the sector has the potential to grow at a rate of 15 to 20 per cent, if favourable policies were announced and various bottlenecks removed by the State and Central Government.
The conference was organised by Technical University of Liberece, Czech Republic and Kumaraguru College of Technology here.