Indian technical textiles industry will be worth Rs. 1,58,000 cr by 2017

Techtextil India, a runaway success

The Indian technical textile industry is expected to grow so fast as to be worth Rs. 1,58,000 crores by 2017.

“The technical textiles industry is forecast to grow at Rs. 1,58,000 crores by 2016-17, with a projected growth of 20%. The industry has grown to Rs. 63,000 crores in 2011-12 from Rs. 41,000 crores in 2010-11, which is 11 per cent growth per annum,” the Textile Commissioner, Mr. A.B. Joshi, said after inaugurating the third edition of Techtextil India 2011.

He emphasised the growing segments within the technical textiles industry in India, namely, medical (medtech), geo-textiles, protective textiles and agricultural textiles.

In the 12th Five-Year Plan, he said, the Government has allocated funds for the development of centres of excellence (CoEs) for the various technical textiles.

The centres set up recently are for non-wovens and medical at Ichalkaranji, for the sports sector in Mumbai, for composites in Ahmedabad, and for industrial application of textiles in Coimbatore.

Mr. Joshi released the official catalogue of the third Techtextil India at the conference.

The three-day exhibition and the concurrent two-day symposium provided comprehensive market intelligence, which will help drive the future of India’s technical textile market.

Apart from four international country pavilions from Germany, France, Belgium and China, nearly 132 exhibitors from 14 countries – Belgium, China, France, Germany, Holland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Turkey, the US, Austria and Indonesia – participated in the exhibition.

Michael Jänecke, Brand Manager – Techtextil, Messe Frankfurt GmbH, in his welcome address, thanked the Indian Government and extended support towards Techtextil India 2011.

He said that India’s presence as a global player in the textile industry has garnered positive feedback as the country is fast gaining recognition from many countries worldwide.

Exporters urged the Government to give service tax and VAT exemption “to encourage textile exports and remain competitive”.