The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit, organised a One-Day Seminar on “Technical Textiles – Need of Today and Tomorrow” on March 26th, 2022, at Vapi (Gujarat). The seminar was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, G. V. Aras, Consultant and Strategic Business Advisor and Former Director of A.T.E. Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. In the inaugural session, The Chief Guest, Key Note Speaker, and Guests of Honour were all greeted by V. C. Gupte, Chairman, TAI, Mumbai Unit. He also greeted the speakers, reporters, media, and delegates, as well as the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Industrial Excellence Award.
Haresh B. Parekh, Convenor of the Seminar while giving the highlights said that this seminar is organised to discuss the opportunities for the Technical Textile industry in the challenging scenario. This exclusive seminar is to discuss the need of technical textiles for today and tomorrow. The deliberations in this seminar will show the future trend to do more towards new arenas of research, innovation, market development and investments in technical textile business.
Dr. Anup Rakshit, Executive Director, Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) in his key note address said that ITTA is playing very crucial role in developing technical textile activity across the nation and guiding organization in the field in all respects. He highlighted various sectors of technical textiles and government initiatives toward establishing technical textile business in the country.
Amit Agrawal, Chairman, Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) in his address as a Guest of Honour discussed about ITTA’s vision toward technical textile business in India. He also mentioned about the policy initiatives on Technical Textiles introduced by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.
The Textile Association (India), Mumbai Unit felicitated Pramod Khosla, Chairman & Managing Director, Khosla Profile Pvt. Ltd with “The Lifetime Achievement Award” and Narendra Dalmia, Director & CEO, Strata Geosystems (India) Pvt. Ltd. with “The Industry Excellence Award” for their outstanding contribution in the field of technical textiles.
G. V. Aras, Consultant & Strategic Business Advisor and Former Director, A.T.E. Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. while giving his inaugural address said that there are lot of opportunities in Technical Textiles industry but we are not able to grab them to prove ourselves in the international market. We don’t have the capacity for bulk manufacturing which can fulfil the requirements of big buyers. He also focussed that it is need of the hour to get skilled manpower in this area. He suggested that textile educational institute should make technical textiles as a compulsory subject in their curriculum. He also emphasized that due to Covid problems in China the production capacity has been considerably reduced and hence Indian textile industry has tremendous opportunity to increase the productivity and grab the international market. He also praised the Indian textile industry for increase in the manufacturing of mask and medical kits business during this pandemic period.
A. V. Mantri, Hon. Secretary, TAI, Mumbai Unit, proposed Vote of Thanks.
In Technical Session: Pramod Khosla, Chairman & Managing Director, Khosla Profile Pvt. Ltd. delivered theme address on “Importance of Technical Textile in Indian Textile Industry’. In his address he discussed about the various sectors in the technical textiles and emphasized on the newly introduced composites. He also gave the guidelines for Textile Technicians for manufacturing Technical Textile.
Session – I
Panel Discussion: A Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Emerging Opportunities in Technical Textiles’ was featured an important event of the seminar.
- The discussion moderated by Dr. Chandan Chattarjee, Executive Director, ADS Foundation and the panel was comprised of senior leaders from the textile industry. The panel members came up with some radical thoughts which could be helpful for the growth of Technical Textile industry.
- Narendra Dalmia, Director & CEO, Strata Geosystems (India) Pvt. Ltd. talked about geosynthetic material development and shared examples of its application. He mentioned how technology can resolve national problem in this road construction area. According to him there are huge opportunities in technical textile business.
- Dr. Mohit Raina, Managing Director, Raina Industries Pvt. Ltd. highlighted about role of FRP in civil engineering applications and how a corrosion issue can be solved using textile materials. He elaborated good examples on sustainable solution to solve various problems.
- R. K. Viz, Advisor-Polyester, Indorama Synthetics Pvt. Ltd. focussed his discussion on the role of manmade fibre in development of technical textiles. He stressed on PIL scheme of GOI and its benefits.
- Yogesh Kumar Garg, Managing Director, Dilo India Pvt. Ltd. took up a point on weaving machines for technical textile manufacturing. He also highlighted about role of Jute, banana, pineapple natural fibre role in technical textile development
Session – II: During the technical session, following papers were presented by the eminent speakers.
- Paresh Shah, Vice President, Rabatex Industries Pvt. Ltd. presented the paper on “Rabatex : Warp preparation solutions for technical textiles”
- Anurag Tandon, India Sales Manager, Avgol Nonwovens India Pvt. Ltd. presented the paper on “Polyester Market Growth”.
- Anjani K. Prasad, Managing Director, India Cluster, Archroma India Pvt. Ltd. made presentation on “Sustainable Technical Textile-Chemical View”.
- Sudipto Mandal, Assistant Manager-Sales& Marketing,Oerlikon textiles India Pvt. Ltd. presented paper on “Innovative manmade Fibres Solutions & Technology for textile and technical Textile application, Supporting sustainable textile value chain”.
Session – III
Panel Discussion: A Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Technological Advancements in Technical Textiles’ was featured as the last event of the seminar.
- The discussion moderated by Dr. Arup Rakshit Executive Director, Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA). The panel was comprised of experts from the field of the technical textile industry. They came up with new ideas which could be helpful to the technical Textiles industry.
- Prashant M. Mangukia, Director, Yamuna Machine Works Pvt. Ltd. spoke upon manufacturing of finishing machines and their innovative features. He highlighted working of finishing machines at various technical textile manufacturing units involved in technical textile development.
- Sanjay Sathe, Sr. Vice President & Head Product Management, Archroma India Pvt. Ltd. stressed upon the sustainable innovative solution to effluent problem faced by Technical Textile industry. He also spoke on safety and efficiency issue faced by industry and solution on using various novel products from Archroma.
- Narendra Kajale, Vice President, Technology & Innovations, Texport Syndicate (Ind) Ltd. took up the point of textile industry dependency on fossile fuel. He also spoke on climate change, protection from heat using technical textile materials, energy storage issue and human safety aspects. He also elaborated performance simulation model of garment as smart technical textiles.
- Birendranath Bandhopadhyay, President, Kusumgar Corporates Pvt. Ltd. talk about new product development in technical textiles safety jackets to be used in Indian defence force. He shared valuable information on technical textile viz. shape memory textiles, Sports textiles, parachute fabric and technical textiles based on recycled materials.
The panel discussions were followed up with very good questions from the participants who were replied by the panel members. The seminar was a grand success and was attended by more than 225 delegates.
