Textile Association (India) organised seminar on technical textiles

The association honoured leaders in the textile industry, which was followed by a thought-provoking panel discussion

Gujarat

The Textile Association (India) of Mumbai Unit organised a one day seminar on “Technical Textiles – Need of Today and Tomorrow” at Gujarat. The seminar was inaugurated by the Chief Guest G V Aras, Consultant & Strategic Business Advisor and Former Director, A.T.E. Enterprises.

Inaugural session

V C Gupte, Chairman, TAI, Mumbai, welcomed the chief guest, key note speaker, guests of honour and also the awardees and other delegates. The seminar was organised to discuss the opportunities for the technical textile industry in the challenging scenario. The discussion was focused on the future trend to do more towards new areas of research, innovation, market development and investments in technical textile business.

Dr Anup Rakshit, Executive Director, Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) while giving a key note speech said that ITTA was playing very crucial role in developing technical textile activity across the nation and guiding organisation in the field in all respects. He highlighted various sectors of technical textiles and government initiatives toward establishing technical textile business in the country. Amit Agrawal, Chairman, Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA), also shared ITTA’s vision towards technical textile business in India. He also mentioned about the policy initiatives on technical textiles introduced by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

To honour the outstanding contribution in the field of technical textiles, TAIfelicitatedPramod Khosla, Chairman & Managing Director, Khosla Profile with the lifetime achievement award andNarendra Dalmia, Director & CEO, Strata Geosystems (India)with the industry excellence award.

While giving his inaugural address,G V Aras, Consultant & Strategic Business Advisor and Former Director, A.T.E. Enterprises, said, “There are a lot of opportunities in technical textiles industry but we are not able to grab them to prove ourselves in the international market. We don’t have the capacity for bulk manufacturing which can fulfil the requirements of big buyers. It is need of the hour to get skilled manpower in this area. Textile educational institutes should make technical textiles as a compulsory subject in their curriculum. Due to Covid problems in China, the production capacity has been considerably reduced and, hence, Indian textile industry has tremendous opportunity to increase the productivity and grab the international market.” He also praised the Indian textile industry for increase in the manufacturing of mask and medical kits business during this pandemic period.

Standing (L to R): A V Mantri; Haresh B Parekh; V C Gupte; R K Vij; G V Aras; Amit Agarwal; Vikas Sharan; Dr. Anup Rakshit.

Technical sessions

A few panel discussions with industry experts were also held during the event. The topic of the first panel discussion was  ‘Emerging opportunities in technical textiles’. Industry experts during the panel discussion – moderated by Dr Chandan Chattarjee,Executive Director, ADS Foundation – came up with some radical thoughts which could be helpful for the growth of technical textile industry.

Narendra Dalmia, Director & CEO, Strata Geosystems (India), spoke about geosynthetic material development and shared examples of its application. He mentioned how technology can resolve national problem in this road construction area. According to him, there is a huge opportunities in technical textile business.

Dr Mohit Raina, Managing Director, Raina Industries,highlighted about role of FRP in civil engineering applications and how a corrosion issue can be solved using textile materials. He elaborated good examples on sustainable solution to solve various problems.

R K Viz, Advisor – Polyester, Indorama Synthetics,focused his discussion on the role of man- made fibre in development of technical textiles. He stressed on PLI scheme of GoI and its benefits.

Yogesh Kumar Garg, Managing Director, Dilo India,took up a point on weaving machines for technical textile manufacturing. He also highlighted about role of jute, banana, pineapple natural fibre role in technical textile development.

In the second session, the eminent speakers presented the papers. Paresh Shah, Vice President, Rabatex Industries Pvt Ltd, presented the paper on “Rabatex: Warp preparation solutions for technical textiles”.  Anurag Tandon, India Sales Manager, Avgol Nonwovens India Pvt Ltd, presented the paper on “Polyester market growth”.  Anjani K. Prasad,Managing Director, India Cluster, Archroma India Pvt Ltd, made presentation on “Sustainable technical textile: Chemical view”.

Sudipto Mandal,Assistant Manager – Sales & Marketing, Oerlikon Textiles India Pvt Ltd,presented paper on“Innovative manmade fibres solutions & technology for textile and technical textile application, supporting sustainable textile value chain”.

The last event of the seminar included another enthralling panel discussion on ‘Technological advancements in technical textiles’. The discussion was moderated by Dr Arup Rakshit Executive Director, ITTA. The panel came up with new ideas which could be helpful to the technical textiles industry.

Prashant M Mangukia, Director, Yamuna Machine Works, spoke upon manufacturing of finishing machines and their innovative features. He highlighted working of finishing machines at various technical textile manufacturing units involved in technical textile development.

Sanjay Sathe, Sr. Vice President & Head Product Management, Archroma India, stressed upon the sustainable innovative solution to effluent problem faced by technical textile industry. He also spoke on safety and efficiency issue faced by industry and solution on using various novel products from Archroma.

Narendra Kajale, Vice President, Technology & Innovations, Texport Syndicate (Ind), took up the point of textile industry dependency on fossil fuel. He also spoke on climate change, protection from heat using technical textile materials, energy storage issue and human safety aspects. He also elaborated performance simulation model of garment as smart technical textiles.

Birendranath Bandhopadhyay, President, Kusumgar Corporates, spoke about new product development in technical textiles safety jackets to be used in Indian defence force. He shared valuable information on technical textile viz. shape memory textiles, sports textiles, parachute fabric and technical textiles based on recycled materials.