Technical Textiles

In News

• Recently, the Textile minister said the government will support production-linked incentives (PLIs) for the textile sector in states supporting the development and offering affordable infrastructure for textile manufacturing like cheap land and power.

About

• A technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion. 
• Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles, and protective clothing.

Image Courtesy : ET 

Textile Sector in India

• Target: 
  • The annual growth rate of the technical textiles sector in the country should be in the 15%-20% range in the next five years, from the current 8%.
  • It is time to target a five times’ increase in export of technical textiles in three years.
• Global and India:
  • The world market for technical textiles is $250 billion and India’s share is $19 billion.
• India being a Net Exporter:
  • The biggest players are the U.S., West European countries, China and Japan.
  • HSN Codes for textiles:
    • In January 2019, the government issued 207 HSN Codes for technical textiles and in less than two years, India had become a net exporter of technical textiles.
  • National Technical Textiles Mission:
    • It was unveiled in February 2020
  • Technical textiles:
    • In FY21, India’s major share of technical textile exports was in PPEs, N-95 and surgical masks, and fabric for PPEs and masks. 
    • As many as 92 technical textile items have been made mandatory for use by government organisations covering agriculture, horticulture, highways, railways, water resources, and medical applications.
• India’s forte:
  • India has a major presence in packaging textiles, geotechnical textiles, and agricultural textiles.

Image Courtesy: ET 

Benefits

• It will provide an immense boost to domestic manufacturing.
• Prepare the industry for making a big impact in global markets in sync with the spirit of Atma Nirbhar Bharat. 
• It will also help attract more investment into this sector.
• It also will help in  generating more jobs. 

Significance of Textile Sector in India

• India is the 2nd largest manufacturer and exporter in the world, after China.
• The Textile Sector contributed 2.3% to the GDP of India.
• It contributed 12% to India’s export earnings in FY20.
• It contributed 13% of the industry production in FY20.
• India is the 6th largest producer of Technical Textiles with 6% Global Share (12% CAGR), largest producer of cotton & jute in the world.  
• The Textile industry has around 4.5 crore employed workers including 35.22 lakh handloom workers across the country which is 21 % of total  employment.
• The domestic textiles and apparel market stood at an estimated US$ 100 billion in FY19.
• India has a share of 5% of the global trade in textiles and apparel.
• The industry (including dyed and printed) attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth US$ 3.45 billion from April 2000 to June 2020.
• Cotton production supports 5.8 Million farmers & 40-50 Million people in  allied sectors. 
• India is also the second largest producer of silk in the world and 95% of the  world’s hand woven fabric comes from India.

Issues in Textile Sector

• Shortage in supply of raw material: Shutting down some units in China and Europe due to pollution issues has resulted in an unprecedented rise in prices of basic raw materials in international markets. 
• Increase in cost of raw material: Prices are increasing after many units in China were shut down due to pollution norms. 
• Inflexible labour laws: India’s system of labour regulations is rather complex. There are over 200 labour laws, including a quarter of Central Acts. Several labour laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 put limitations on firm size and not allow manufacturing firms to grow.
• Pressure to meet stringent social and environmental norms: Failing to comply with environmental regulations can put supply chain in jeopardy, as pressure mounts for the apparel industry to improve environmental compliance efforts.
• Infrastructure bottlenecks: poor quality of infrastructure in India has been a major hurdle. This results in Lack of efficiency due to manual work being practiced.
• Highly fragmented: The Indian textile industry is highly fragmented and is being dominated by the unorganized sector and small and medium industries.
• Uneven regional development: The country’s textile industry is concentrated in a few pockets of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south. A large proportion of workers employed by these units comes from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

Government Initiatives

• Government has allowed 100% FDI in the sector under the automatic route.
• A National Technical Textiles Mission is launched  to promote research and development in the textile sector for a period from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
• The New Textiles Policy 2020 for overall development of the sector was released by the Ministry of Textiles.
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved mandatory packaging of food grains and sugar in jute material for the Jute Year 2019-20.
• Amended Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS), estimated to create employment for 35 lakh people and enable investment worth Rs. 95,000 crore by 2022.
• Integrated Wool Development Programme (IWDP) to provide support to the wool sector, starting from wool rearer to end consumer, with an aim to enhance quality and increase production during 2017-18 and 2019-20.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved a new skill development scheme named ‘Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)’.
• The following government policies are favourable which provide attractive incentives to the manufacturers:
  • Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP)
  • Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS)
  • Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT)
  • Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY)
  • Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS)
  • Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)
  • Market Development Assistance (MDA) Market Access Initiative (MAI) 

Source: TH