National Technical Textiles Mission

In News

• The Ministry of Textiles recently cleared 23 strategic research projects that fall under the flagship programme ‘National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).

More about the news

• The research projects are worth around Rs 60 crores. 
• Among these 23 Research projects, 
  • 12 Projects of Speciality Fibres having application areas in Agriculture, Smart Textiles, Healthcare, Strategic Application and Protective gears were cleared. 
  • 4 Projects from Sustainable Textiles having application areas in Agriculture and Healthcare sectors were cleared. 
  • 5 projects from Geotextile, 
  • 1 from Mobiltech and 
  • 1 from Sportech were cleared.

Issues in Textile Sector:

• Shortage in supply of raw material: 
  • Shutting down some units in China and Europe due to pollution issues has resulted in an unprecedented rise in prices of basic raw materials in international markets. 
• Increase in cost of raw material: 
  • Prices are increasing after many units in China were shut down due to pollution norms. 
• Inflexible labour laws: 
  • India’s system of labour regulations is rather complex. There are over 200 labour laws, including a quarter of Central Acts. Several labour laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 put limitations on firm size and not allow manufacturing firms to grow.
• Pressure to meet stringent social and environmental norms: 
  • Failing to comply with environmental regulations can put supply chain in jeopardy, as pressure mounts for the apparel industry to improve environmental compliance efforts.
• Infrastructural bottlenecks: 
  • Poor quality of infrastructure in India has been a major hurdle. This results in Lack of efficiency due to manual work being practiced.
• Highly fragmented: 
  • The Indian textile industry is highly fragmented and is being dominated by the unorganized sector and small and medium industries.
• Uneven regional development: 
  • The country’s textile industry is concentrated in a few pockets of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south. A large proportion of workers employed by these units comes from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

Other government initiatives for the Textile sector

• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Textile Sector:
  • Government approved PLI Scheme for Textiles products, namely MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles, for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and enhancing exports with an approved financial outlay of Rs 10,683 crore over a five-year period. 
  • The investment period is 2 years, and the incentive will be paid for 5 years after the first year of post-investment operation. 
  • Aim:
    • The PLI scheme for textiles aims to promote the production of high value Man-Made Fibre (MMF) fabrics, garments and technical textiles
• PM MITRA Park Scheme:
  • About:
    • The seven Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks will be set up at Greenfield or Brownfield sites located in different states.
  • It is in line with the vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ and to position India strongly on the Global textiles map.
  • It will be developed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be owned by the State Government and the Government of India in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Mode. 
  • It is inspired by the 5F vision of the Prime Minister of India. The ‘5F’ Formula encompasses – 
    • farm to fibre; 
    • fibre to factory; 
    • factory to fashion; 
    • fashion to foreign. 
• Other:
  • The New Textiles Policy 2020 for overall development of the sector was released by the Ministry of Textiles.
  • Government has allowed 100% FDI in the sector under the automatic route.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved a new skill development scheme named ‘Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)’.

Way Ahead

• The technological gap in the country needs to be addressed in the field of technical textiles. 
• Identification of the area of research in technical textiles with industry interaction and promotional activities like conferences, exhibitions, and buyer-seller meetings to promote the use of Technical textiles in the country and to increase the exports to be the key focus areas.

Source: LM