The technical textile industry could well develop into a vibrant, indigenous sector. Both domestic textile units and the ministry of textiles are focusing on the sector.
In pursuance of the mission, Technotex-2009 was launched by textile minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday. ?This is an emerging industry and the domestic market size of technical textiles in the country is expected to grow at the rate of 11% per annum and will reach Rs 66,414 crore by 2012 from the existing Rs 37,115 crore,? Maran said.
Similarly, the global market size of the technical textiles industry which was $107 billion in 2005, is also expected to increase to $127 billion by next year. Asian countries, led by China and India, may drive the future growth of this industry.
India is the second largest textiles economy in the world after China, however, its contribution to the global technical textiles market is insignificant at 4%, given the immense potential here, India can become a key player in the world.
The industry has vast scope in the developing countries, particularly in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and India. The changing economic scenario in these countries will boost the demand for technical textiles, said the minister. Considering our highly skilled, scientific and technical manpower and abundant availability of raw material, we can emerge as a key player in the technical textiles industry Maran said.
The segment has a potential to attract investment and create additional employment opportunities in coming years.
The segment represent a multi-disciplinary field with numerous end use applications, and it has penetrated all areas of economic activity like aerospace, agriculture, sports, defence, construction and medical. Based on their end use applications technical textiles are grouped into 12 segments like Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Meditech, Mobiltech, Packtech, Protech and Sporttech. Technical textiles provide not only better hygiene, safety, durability and comfort to consumers but are cost-effective in the long run. Maran further said the life cycle cost of technical textiles is lower than the traditional materials and textiles.