Time to target 5-fold increase in technical textile exports in 3 years, says Piyush Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the time has come to target a five times increase in the export of technical textiles in three years, from the current USD 2 billion to USD 10 billion.

Addressing representatives of the Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) here, the minister said the government will support production-linked incentives (PLIs) for the textile sector in states supporting the development and offering affordable infrastructure for textile manufacturing like cheap land and power.

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The Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution said "we should align with the best standards in textile manufacturing", an official statement said.

Goyal said there should be no difference in the quality of textiles meant for international and domestic consumers.

The minister suggested public-private participation for use of government funds in research and development in technical textiles.

The growth of technical textiles in India has gained momentum in the past five years, currently growing at an eight per cent per annum rate.

"Our aim is to hasten this growth to 15-20 per cent range during next five years," the minister said.

"Goyal said the current world market is USD 250 billion (Rs 18 lakh crore) and India's share in it is USD 19 billion.

"India is an aspiring player with USD 40 billion size in this market (8 per cent share). The biggest players are USA, western Europe, China and Japan (20-40 per cent share)," the textile ministry stated.

He said that in addition to the growth in statistical terms, the government will direct the growth towards high technology and indigenously innovated products, the statement added.

He further mentioned that with these objectives in mind, the government has launched the National Technical Textiles Mission in February 2020, with a view to make India a self-reliant, vibrant, export-oriented economy in the world.

"Our aim is to transform India into a major player in innovations, technology development, applications in key areas (agriculture, roads & railways, water resources, hygiene and healthcare, personal protection) with emphasis on higher education and skilled workforce," Goyal said.

Goyal informed that in January 2019, for the first time in India, 207 HSN Codes were issued for technical textiles, and in less than two years, India has become a net exporter in technical textiles.

He said that the trade balance earlier used to be negative (-Rs 2,788 crore) in 2018-19 and (-Rs 1,366 crore in 2019-20), which has turned positive with Rs 1,767 crore in 2020-21. During the year 2020-21, India's major share of exports is in PPEs, N-95 and surgical masks, fabric for PPEs and masks.

Talking about the efforts made by the government to promote technical textiles, the minister informed that 92 items have been made mandatory for use by government organisations covering agriculture/horticulture, highways, railways, water resources, and medical applications.

He stated that BIS has issued Indian Standards for 377 items and nearly 100 are in pipeline. Skill development in technical textiles commenced with the introduction of six new courses and another new 20 courses are under preparation, he added.

Technical textiles are textiles that are engineered to give desired output suitable for specific applications. The basic raw material are natural fibres like jute, silk and cotton.