The Ministry of Textiles approved a total of 18 Research and Development projects worth Rs. 46.74 cr across different areas of technical textiles, an official statement said.
Addressing the 7th Meeting of the Mission Steering Group (MSG) of the National Technical Textiles Mission in New Delhi, Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Industry and Institute’s pro-active and robust engagement is essential for the indigenous development of technical textiles in India.”
The 18 R&D initiatives include 1 Ideation Grant project, 3 Prototype Grant projects, and 14 High Value initiatives. The projects, which span a variety of technical textile applications, were authorised during the conference. These included 1 project from Geotech, 2 from Protech, 2 from Indutech, 2 from Sportech, 5 from Sustainable Textiles, 3 from Meditech, 3 from Smart & E Textiles, and 1 from Geotextiles.
The approved projects were led by institutes and research bodies including BTRA, ATIRA, IIT Delhi, IIT Jammu, NIT Jalandhar, IIT Kharagpur, CSIR New Delhi, IIT Madras, among others.
“Emphasis should be on R&D for globally highly imported technical textiles items, apart from import-dependent technical textiles items and specialty fibres in India,” Piyush Goyal said.
According to the textiles ministry, the Union Minister reviewed the progress made in the areas of education, training, and skill development, and 26 applications totaling Rs.151.02 cr from 15 public and 11 private institutions were approved for the introduction of papers, the purchase of laboratory infrastructure, and the training of trainers in a variety of technical textile application areas.
The meeting was attended by senior representatives from NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Ministry of Heavy Industries, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Department of Expenditure, the Department of Higher Education, the Department for Promoting Industry and Internal Trade, as well as members from other Ministries.
