National Technical Textiles Mission

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to set up a National Technical Textiles Mission with a total outlay of Rs 1480 Crore, to position the country as a global leader in Technical Textiles. The Mission would have a four year implementation period from FY 2020-21 to 2023-24.
• Technical Textiles are a futuristic and nice segment of textiles, which are used for various applications ranging from agriculture, roads, railway tracks, sportswear, health on one end to bulletproof jacket, fireproof jackets, high altitude combat gear and space applications on other ends of the spectrum.

The Mission will have four components:

Component -l (Research, Innovation, and Development)

• With an outlay of Rs. 1000 Crore. This component will promote both (i) fundamental research at fiber level aiming at path-breaking technological products in Carbon Fibre, Aramid Fibre, Nylon Fibre, and Composites and (ii) application-based research in geo-textiles, agro-textiles, medical textiles, mobile textiles and sports textiles and development of bio­degradable technical textiles.
• The fundamental research activities will be based on the 'pooled resource' method and will be conducted in various Centre for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and other scientific/industrial/academic laboratories of repute. Application-based research will be conducted in CSIR, IIT, Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of Indian Railways, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL), Indian Road Research Institute (IRRI) and other such reputed laboratories.

Component -II (Promotion and Market Development)

• Indian Technical Textiles segment is estimated at USD 16 Billion which is approximately 6% of the 250 Billion USD global technical textiles market. The penetration level of technical textiles is low in India varying between 5-10% against the level of 30-70% in developed countries. The Mission will aim at an average growth rate of 15-20% per annum taking the level of domestic market size to 40-50 Billion USD by the year 2024; through market development, market promotion, international technical collaborations, investment promotions and 'Make in India' initiatives.

Component - III (Export Promotion)

• The component aims at export promotion of technical textiles enhancing from the current annual value of approximately Rs.14000 Crore to Rs.20000 Crore by 2021-22 and ensuring 10% average growth in exports per year up to 2023-24. An Export Promotion Council for Technical Textiles will be set up for effective coordination and promotion activities in the segment.

Component- IV (Education, Training, Skill Development)

• Education, skill development and adequacy of human resources in the country are not adequate to meet the technologically challenging and fast-growing technical textiles segment. The Mission will promote technical education at higher engineering and technology levels related to technical textiles and its application areas covering engineering, medical, agriculture, aquaculture, and dairy segments. Skill development will be promoted and an adequate pool of highly skilled manpower resources will be created for meeting the need for relatively sophisticated technical textiles manufacturing units.

About Mission and its objective

• The Mission will focus on the usage of technical textiles in various flagship missions, programs of the country including strategic sectors. The use of technical textiles in agriculture, aquaculture, dairy, poultry, etc. JalJivan Mission; Swachch Bharat Mission; Ayushman Bharat will bring an overall improvement in cost economy, water and soil conservation, better agricultural productivity and higher income to farmers per acre of landholding in addition to the promotion of manufacturing and exports activities in India. The use of geotextiles in highways, railways and ports will result in robust infrastructure, reduced maintenance cost and higher life cycle of the infrastructure assets.
• Promotion of innovation amongst young engineering /technology/ science standards and graduates will be taken up by the Mission; along with the creation of innovation and incubation centers and promotion of 'start-up' and Ventures'. The research output will be reposited with a ‘Trust’ with the Government for the easy and assessable proliferation of the knowledge thus gained through research innovation and development activities.
• A sub-component of the research will focus on the development of biodegradable technical textiles materials, particularly for agro-textiles, geo-texti!es, and medical textiles. It will also develop suitable equipment for environmentally sustainable disposal of used technical textiles, with emphasis on safe disposal of medical and hygiene wastes.
• There is another important sub-component in the research activity aiming at the development of indigenous machinery and process equipment for technical textiles, to promote 'Make In India' and enable competitiveness of the industry by way of reduced capital costs.

Background of Technical Textiles:

• Technical textiles are textiles materials and products manufactured primarily for technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic characteristics. Technical Textiles products are divided into 12 broad categories (Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Protech, Sportstech, Oekotech, Packtech) depending upon their application areas.
• India shares nearly 6% of the world market size of 250 Billion USD. However, the annual average growth of the segment is 12%, as compared to 4% world average growth.
• The penetration level of technical textiles is low in India at 5-10%, against 30-70% in advanced countries. The Mission aims at improving the penetration level of technical textiles in the country.

Source: PIB