Significance, vision, and strategic roadmap for the growth of India’s technical textiles sector Introduction
By yash chouhan 2025-02-07 11:32:05
Importance, outlook, and strategy plan for the expansion of India's technological textile industry Overview
India has always been a leading player in the Traditional textiles and Natural fibres segment. In recent times, India has made remarkable progress in the specialised area of technical textiles, key contributors of its growth being India’s leap towards modernisation and manufacturing competitiveness.
Realising the importance of the segment, the Union textiles ministry is planning to provide grants of up to Rs 50 lakh each to 150 Startups engaged in producing technical textiles such as Kevlar, a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fibre and Spandex, a synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity. Technical textiles like Kevlar, Spandex, Nomex, a fabric that can withstand heat, flame, and chemicals, and Twaron, a heat-resistant fibre, are used in sectors such as aerospace, defence, automobiles, healthcare, construction, and agriculture.
This funding is part of a Rs 375 crore allocation for FY 2025 from the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). The ministry will not seek any share of profits generated from these businesses.
Technical textiles
Technical textiles are a category of textiles, engineered for functional purposes beyond traditional apparel and home furnishing. They are manufactured using natural as well as man-made fibres such as Nomex, Kevlar, Spandex, Twaron, that exhibit higher tenacity, excellent insulation, improved thermal resistance etc.
The invention of speciality fibres and their incorporation in almost all areas suggests that the importance of technical textiles is bound to increase future.
Significance for India
Technical textiles, a sunrise sector, has assumed added significance during Covid-19 crisis when global manufacturing had come to a grinding halt and the ban on export of critical medical equipment, including N95 face masks and protective gears had made imports to India nearly impossible. India was entirely import dependent for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits. From manufacturing 0 PPE kits, it soon rose to manufacturing 2.5 lakh a day in 60 days, becoming the second largest manufacturer after China.
By transforming the Covid-19 crisis to an opportunity, India has proved its ability to innovate and rise to the challenge with limited resources and time. It is opined, the government and industry should collaborate to boost technical textiles, a high value segment of the Textile Sector.
Global technical textiles market & India’s place in it
The Global Technical Textiles market was estimated at $212 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $274 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 5.2 % from 2022-27, driven by increasing cross-industry demand and the rapid development of new applicative products.
According to a KPMG report, the Indian technical textiles market was the 5th largest in the world valued at $ 21.95 billion in 2021-22 with production worth $ 19.49 billion, and imports at $2.46 billion. Over the past 5 years, the market has reportedly grown at 8-10 % per annum with the government aiming to accelerate this growth to 15-20 % over the next 5 years.
Towards global leadership
NTTM was launched in 2020 with the aim to position India as a global leader in technical textiles. This was to be achieved by promoting research, innovation, and the use of technical textiles in various sectors. To this effect the government has introduced:
1. Production-linked incentive Scheme for textiles; 2. PM MITRA Parks scheme; 3. Quality control regulations, and; 4. Over 500 standards to promote technical textiles.
Startups interested in availing of the fund need to deposit 10% of the total fund allocation in advance. To receive Rs 50 lakh from the Ministry, a Startup must deposit Rs 5 lakh of its own funds, which will not be deducted from the Rs 50 lakh fund.
As per the Press Release on 4th of February 2025, 4 Startups have been approved under the ‘Grant for Research & Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT)’ scheme focussed on key strategic areas of Medical Textiles, Industrial Textiles and Protective Textiles.
Future of technical textiles Technical textiles account for approximately 13% of India’s total textile and apparel market and contribute 0.7 % to India’s GDP. There is a huge potential to fulfil a large demand gap, as the consumption of technical textiles in India is still only at 5-10% against 30-70% in some of the advanced countries.
Epilogue
The world has taken note of the manufacturing capability of Indian technical textiles during the COVID years. From being a non-producer of COVID Grade PPE kits, India rose to become the World’s second largest producer and exporter of PPEs and N-95 Masks in a period of six months during 2020.
