Collaboration with an industry body like ITTA will go a long way to implement the state policies.
The Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) successfully concluded its 14th Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting was chaired by Avinash Misar, with a large presence of ITTA members, special invitees, and press media representatives. Dr Anup Rakshit, Executive Director, ITTA, warmly welcomed the distinguished guests, members, and press representatives to the event. Mahesh Kudav, Vice Chairman conducted the business session. The AGM was honoured by the presence of Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary (Textiles), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, as the Chief Guest and Virendra Singh (IAS), Secretary (Textiles), Government of Maharashtra as a Guest of Honour.
Saxena addressed the ITTA members, emphasising the critical role that ITTA has played over the years as a dedicated association in uplifting the technical textile sector and its pivotal role in liaisoning between the industry and the government, driving innovation, sustainability, and growth within India’s textile industry. He acknowledged ITTA’s significant contributions to these areas, particularly its involvement in major committees such as the Mission Steering Group and the Empowered Programme Committee, start-up scrutiny committees under NTTM to effectively implement the schemes.
“Two-thirds of the investments under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme are directed towards technical textiles.” Of the total Rs 600 million allocated, Rs 400 million are dedicated specifically to this sector, reflecting the government’s commitment to fostering innovation and growth, Saxena said. He stressed the importance of innovation for the industry’s future and encouraged companies to participate in market-focused R&D initiatives. The government will cover 90 per cent of these costs, while companies will retain Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for 3 to 4 years. He also announced that the government will soon introduce Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for an additional 11 key technical textile products. These measures are intended to prevent the dumping of inexpensive foreign products into India, offering domestic companies’ opportunities to strengthen their supply chains and enhance competitiveness.
Addressing the need for conventional textile manufacturers to diversify into technical textiles, Saxena urged ITTA to guide companies in utilising their spare capacities to boost productivity and profitability. He also suggested organising training and skill development programs, as well as seminars and workshops in Tier-2 cities, where excess manufacturing capacity exists, to facilitate the dissemination of technical knowledge and further benefit the industry.
Singhbriefly presented the Maharashtra’s State Textile Policy, with a major focus on Technical Textiles. He highlighted the key features of the policy, including the development of six technical textile parks – one in each revenue division of the state. The policy provides substantial support for establishing these parks, including: infrastructure support, capital subsidy, support for solar plants, support for zero liquid discharge, support for effluent treatment plants. In this context, an Expression of Interest (EoI) will be released soon and the Maharashtra Technical Textile Mission also will be launched within the next two months. Singh said that collaboration with an industry body like ITTA will go a long way to implement the state policies, for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Textiles Department of the Government of Maharashtra and ITTA will be signed soon.
Misar, in his address, extended heartfelt gratitude to the Ministry of Textiles for its unwavering support in fostering the growth of the technical textile sector. Misar highlighted the need for the Government to address several key issues, including the availability of basic raw materials such as specialty fibres, yarns, chemicals, and polymers that are essential for manufacturing high-end technical textile products but are not produced in India. He urged that Quality Control Orders (QCOs) is a welcome move, but it should not be imposed on upstream sector, like specialty raw materials which are not produced in India, as this could adversely affect the growth of upstream and downstream sectors.
Dr Rakshit informed ITTA’s new initiatives during the year. ITTA has launched two new categories of its membership- Associate & Student Membership during the AGM. In response to numerous requests from individual entrepreneurs and startups entering or wanting to enter the technical textile industry this is introduced, in addition to the existing Corporate Membership.
Another focused initiative is taken by ITTA is to collaborate with Academic Institutionson organising ‘Education and Training Programs on Technical Textiles’ specifically designed for faculty members and students. This will also support the NTTM’s goal of achieving the target of trained personnel for the academic institutions & industry. With ITTA’s existing Entrepreneurial Development Programs (EDPs) ITTA has trained over 200 candidates so far.
A notable moment during the meeting was the presentation of the “Lifetime Achievement Awardâ€to Pramod Khosla, Chairman of Khosla Profil, for his outstanding contributions to the technical textile industry and his lasting impact on the field. Khosla was inducted into the ‘ITTA Hall of Fame’, in addition to Yogesh Kusumgar of Kusumgar Corporates and Mohan Kavrie of Supreme Nonwovens.
The Innovation Awards on outstanding contributions and advancements in the technical textile industry, introduced by ITTA, were presented to the following five companies –
- Garware Technical Fibres: Neeraj Shrivastava & Apurv Gadekar on the advancing sustainability: development of ropes from recycled materials – renew ropes.
- SRF:Angeline Divya, Associate Vice President on the Development and commercialisation of food-grade tank liners made from coated fabric for water storage in rural areas.
- High Performance Textiles: Dr Nandan Kumar, Managing Director on the innovative inherent flame-retardant (IFR) fabric for arc-flash protection.
- Fibriltex:Ishaan Sharma, Director of Business Development on the Flushable Biodegradable Sanitary Pads
- Indo German Yarn & Fibres LLP: Rajiv Sajdeh, Partner on the PROMYDE KARANW-2 WR 480 GSM Fabric – Personal Protection Sustainable