TECHNICAL TEXTILES (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Economy)

Context: As per the Joint Secretary (Ministry of Textile), India’s market for technical textiles is targeted to touch $40 billion by 2030 from the current $23 billion.

Technical Textile

• About: Technical textiles or engineered textiles are textile material and products manufactured primarily for technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative characteristics.

o Technical textiles is a fast-growing sub-segment and is a ‘sunrise industry’ that finds its usage in an array of sectors.

• Applications: Clothing, agriculture, medical, infrastructure, automotive, aerospace, sports, defence and packaging etc.
• Contribution: Technical textile accounts for approximately 13% of India’s total textile and apparel market and contributes to India’s GDP at 0.7%.
• Step taken: A National Technical Textiles Mission (2020) has been set up that aims at an average growth rate of 15-20% to increase the domestic market size of technical textiles to $ 40-50 Bn by the year 2024; through:

o Market development, market promotion, international technical collaborations, investment promotions and Make in India initiative.

National Technical Textiles Mission

• The focus of the Mission is for developing on usage of technical textiles in various flagship missions and programmes (like Ayushman Bharat, Jal Jeevan, Agriculture etc), including strategic sectors.
• Implementation period: 4 years (2020-21 to 2023-24).