The Textiles Ministry has cleared 20 strategic research projects worth ₹74 crore in areas such as agro-textiles, speciality fibre, smart textiles, activewear textiles, protective gear and sports textiles under the government’s National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).
The projects were cleared in a meeting chaired by Commerce & Industry and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal, according to a statement issued by the Ministry on Wednesday.
Revision of R&D guidelines and creation of dedicated indigenous machinery and equipment development guidelines under the NTTM were discussed and recommended by the committee during the meeting, the release said.
“To bolster innovation and research ecosystem in technical textiles, NTTM will support ideation and prototyping R&D projects worth up to ₹50 lakh and ₹100 lakh, respectively, which have clear potential to translate into commercial products and technologies,” it said.
Indigenisation
Representatives from leading Indian institutes including IITs, government organisations, and research organisations, in addition to eminent industrialists, participated in the meeting, the statement added.
Goyal, and officials from different line Ministries, provided inputs on technical textiles. “Industry and academia linkages are essential for the growth of research and development in the application areas of technical textiles in India. Building convergence with academicians, scientists and researchers is the need of the hour,” the Minister said.
Despite the prominent use of speciality fibres in India, indigenisation of the technology has still been a major challenge which needs collaborative interventions from both industry and academia, he added.
The 20 research projects included five projects of speciality fibres, six projects of agro-textiles, two projects from smart textiles, two from protective gear and apparel, two from geo-textiles, one from activewear apparels, one from strategic application area and one from sports textiles, the release pointed out.