Indian technical textiles market to reach $50 bn in next 5 years from current $22 bn: Textiles Secretary
18 August 2023: Rachna Shah, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India stated that within the textile sector, the technical textile segment has in recent years shown a robust growth, both internationally and in domestic market. “The global technical textiles market is around $260 billion and is expected to increase to $325 billion by 2025-26. Within India, the market size is around $22 billion, and the goal of the government is to take it to $ 40-50 billion over the next 5 years,” she emphasized.
Addressing the 6th edition of National Conclave on Standards & Regulations for Technical Textiles’, organized by FICCI, jointly with BIS and Ministry of Textiles, Ms Shah further added that the export of technical textile presently is $ 2.5 billion, and government’s objective is to enhance it to $ 10 billion during this period. “The government is working in technical textiles sector with a multi-pronged approach with focus on R&D activities in technical textile sector including in fiber and in development of its various applications. The focus is also on developing a skilling eco-system and skilled manpower for the sector,” she highlighted.
Ms Shah further informed that in addition to developing standards, it is also important to map the technical textiles with HSN codes as it will help in tracking the trade of these products. The HSN codes are in turn being mapped to various regulations and standards. A collaborative approach between the certification agencies, industry and various government ministries will be critical in ensuring the success of our initiatives and growth of the sector, she noted.
Ministry of Textiles also shared that it has notified 2 QCOs for 31 Technical Textiles – 19 items of Geo Textiles and 12 items of Protective Textiles- which will be in-effect from 7th October 2023. Another 2 draft QCOs for 28 items under issuance – 22 items of Agro Textiles and 6 items of Medical Textiles have been notified on WTO’s website for inputs
Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India said that there is a need to optimally develop HSN codes in the field of technical textiles and we have set up a committee to look at this whole aspect of HSN codes. He further highlighted that since 2014, the government has introduced 1545 overall standards in the textile sector out of which 512 are in technical textiles. Along with this, a technical committee for rationalization of HSN Codes for technical textiles has been formed, he informed.
