India to become leading technical textiles exporter: Elangovan

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) With a large textile manufacturing base and technical manpower, India has the potential to become a leading exporter of various technical textile products.

''With greater investments, focused Research and Development efforts and creation of state-of-the-art common testing facilities we can emerge as a leading technical textile manufacturer and exporter,'' Minister of State for Textiles E V K S Elangovan said, while inaugurating the two-day Technical Textile Summit here today.

The global market for Technical Textile products in 2005 stood at 107 billion and is expected to grow to 127 billion by 2010, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.3 per cent. The domestic market for technical textiles in 2005 was estimated at 6.7 billion and is expected to grow to 12.4 billion by 2010 with a CAGR of 11.25 per cent.

The minister said government has been working towards encouraging the growth of this industry and to this end had set up an Expert Committee on Technical Textiles.

This committee drew a road map and deliberated on various related issues to suggest measures for their implementation in a time bound manner.

Further to accelerate growth of this sector the government has designated SAMSIRA as the Nodal Agency for Technical Textiles, he told the CII National Committee on Textiles.

Industry chamber CII said, if India is to become a leader in technical textiles exports, both the government as well as the industry need to take some strategic steps.

It suggested that amongst others the government could introduce the CLCS (Credit Linked Capital Subsidy) scheme for technical textile machineries under TUFS to encourage investment in this sector.

Further establishment of theme-based technical textile parks, introduction of separate stream for technical textiles in engineering colleges and technical institutes for textiles and setting up centre of excellences for quality R and D work would greatly help the industry in accelerating growth.

It also said to accelerate growth, the industry must strive for joint ventures and strategic alliances with companies in the US, Germany, Japan for transfer of technology and expertise in this sector.

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