Context
The Union textiles ministry is recently planning to give grants of up to ₹50 lakh each to 150 startups that are engaged in making technical textiles.
Key Highlights
- Technical textiles are described as textile materials and products used basically for their technical performance and practical houses instead of their aesthetic or decorative characteristics.
- They are manufactured using natural as well as man-made fibers along with Nomex, Kevlar, Spandex, Twaron that showcase superior practical houses including higher tenacity, top notch insulation, progressed thermal resistance etc.
- Application: Healthcare, production, vehicle, aerospace, sports activities, defense, agriculture etc.
Indian Technical Textiles Industry
- The Indian technical textiles market is the 5th biggest within the global and stood at $21.95 billion in 2021-22, with production amounting to $19.49 billion and imports $2.46 billion.
- Technical textile accounts for approximately 13% of India’s total textile and garb market and contributes to India’s GDP at 0.7%.
- India’s exports of technical textile products increased to US$ 2.85 billion in 2021-22, while imports had been US$ 2.46 billion in 2021-22.
Challenges faced by Technical textile industry
- Lack of Research & Development: The enterprise is dominated through Small and Medium Enterprises, which lack the financial assets to invest in advanced technology and R&D.
- Lack of Awareness: Benefits of technical textiles are nevertheless unknown to the larger hundreds of the country. This is the end result of loss of advertising and basic knowledge about those products.
- Development of Skilled Workforce: Technical textiles comprises more than one strategy to manufacture unique products which require specific and excessive tiers of talent sets from employees that’s presently absent in the domestic industry.
Steps taken by government
- National Technical Textile Mission (NTTM): It was launched in 2020 with the purpose to position India as a global leader in technical textiles by promoting research, innovation, and using technical textiles in various sectors.
- Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles was introduced to inspire domestic production of technical textiles.
- New Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) Codes: In addition to the 207 acknowledged technical textiles objects in 2019, 30+ additional HSN Codes devoted to technical textiles products.
- PM MITRA Parks scheme: The task makes a speciality of the development of included massive-scale and present day commercial infrastructure at the entire textile value chain.
- Standards in technical textiles: Development of more than 500 BIS requirements for technical textiles.
- Mandatory usage of technical textiles: 119 technical textiles products had been recognized for obligatory utilization across ten Central ministries/departments to derive the advantages of technical textiles in diverse fields of programs.
Way Ahead
- The technological textile commercial enterprise in India has great ability and is a growing quarter with the intention to contribute appreciably to the development of a new and advanced India by 2047.
- To function India as a leading and rising nation for technological textiles, the emphasis should be on boosting R&D in significant fields, Marketing and logo promotion, increasing cost competitiveness, governmental help, and many others.
Source: The Hindu
UPSC Mains Practice Question
Q. What is technical textile? Discuss the condition of digital textile in India and the challenges faced by it.
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