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First meeting chalks out committee’s role for development of tech textiles

Expert committee on technical textiles to submit report by Dec
Reena Mital - Mumbai

The expert committee on technical textiles, set up recently by the ministry of textiles, under the chairmanship of Mr S Sathyam, held its first meeting on August 13, in New Delhi, to discuss the role the committee will play in the development and growth of the sector.

One of the first functions of the committee will be to conduct a survey of the technical textiles sector in the country - production, demand, number of units, raw materials used and availability, availability of machinery, etc. The committee will submit its report by December end this year.

Speaking to Express Textile, Mr Subodh Kumar, textile commissioner, who is also the member secretary of the expert committee, emphasised the need for a committee on technical textiles. “India is way behind other developed countries in this sector. In fact, China is also concentrating on technical textiles, and is making significant progress in this. The main role of the committee will be to find out the status of this sector in the country, the opportunities that exist, and to draw up a roadmap to exploit the potential of the sector.”

According to Mr M K Bardhan, director, SASMIRA, which is the nodal agency for technical textiles, “The government has been emphasising on technical textiles as the growth engine for the industry, and the setting up of the expert committee shows the seriousness of the government to this sector. The first meeting was an introductory one, but details of the activities of the committee will be discussed in the second meeting on September 6. However, the final agenda is yet to be finalised.”

The terms of reference of the committee include:

• Collection of all information relevant to commercial exploitation of the potential of technical textiles and presentation of the same with reference to the Indian context;
• Reviewing the present position of the world market for technical textiles and charting its growth;
• Evaluation of raw material situation in the country, and with reference to considerations of availability and competitiveness, prioritising different fibres for exploitation;
• Reviewing the present status of technical textiles in the country with reference to type and quality of products produced;
• Reviewing the status of machinery availability, and promoting the same;
• Identification of technical, financial, fiscal, marketing and human resource development measures required to motivate organised production and processing of technical textiles;
• Recommending appropriate administrative structure for giving coordinated attention to development of fibres and products;
• With these objectives, preparing a five year action plan to optimise exploitation of the opportunities available nationally and internationally.

The expert committee has, as its members, Mr A N Jariwala, chairman, Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry, Mr M K Bardhan, Mr V S Chalke, chairman, Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Association, Mr Ranganathan Srinivasan, Dr A K Sen, retd senior scientist, DMSRDC, Mr Sanjay Kajaria, IJMA, Mr J K Jhaver, president, Southern Group of Industries, Chennai.