National Technical Textiles Mission

Why is in news? Ministry of Textiles clears 20 Strategic Projects in the areas of Specialty Fibres, Agro-textile, Protech, Sportech and Geotech segment under the Flagship Programme National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM)

The Ministry provided the inputs pertaining to Technical Textiles for the meeting along with the officials from different Line Ministries.

Leading Indian Institutes including IITs, Government Organizations, Research Organization and Eminent Industrialists, among others participated in the session which cleared projects strategic for the development of Indian economy and a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, especially in the field of Geotech, Industrial and Protective, Agriculture and Infrastructure.

Despite the prominent usage of speciality fibres in India, indigenization of the technology has still been a major challenge which needs collaborative interventions from both industry and academia, he further added.

Revision of R&D guidelines and creation of dedicated indigenous machinery and equipment development guidelines under NTTM were discussed and recommended by the committee during the meeting.

National Technical Textiles Mission:

Technical textiles are functional fabrics that have applications across various industries including automobiles, civil engineering and construction, agriculture, healthcare, industrial safety, personal protection etc.

Technical Textile products derive their demand from development and industrialization in a country.

Based on usage, there are 12 technical textile segments: Agrotech, Meditech, Buildtech, Mobiltech, Clothtech, Oekotech, Geotech, Packtech, Hometech, Protech, Indutech and Sportech.

It was approved in 2020 by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) with total outlay of Rs.1480 Crore. The implementation period is four years, from FY 2020-21 to FY 2023-24.

The aim of the mission is to position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles by taking the domestic market size from USD 40 billion to USD 50 billion by 2024.

It also supports the ‘Make in India’ Initiative promoting domestic manufacturing of related machinery and equipment.

It will focus on research, development and innovation, promotion and development of the market for technical textiles, focus on export promotion, focus on education, training and skill development.