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Gujarat to tap USD 400 mn investment in Technical Textiles Sector

18 Jan '12

4 min read

The state of Gujarat is expected to receive around Rs 20 billion (USD 400 mn) in fresh investments in the burgeoning technical textiles sector, said a top official of the Ministry of Industry in the Gujarat government.

“This amount is expected to be invested in the technical textiles industry as well as the converting industry (Those who convert technical textile goods into final products)”, said Dr Chandan Chatterjee, Director - Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb).

There are more than 1,000 technical textile units functioning in Gujarat. They are mostly woven-fabric based units. However now, the Gujarat government plans to focus on development of the nonwovens sector.

To make this a reality, Gujarat will launch a first-of-its-kind state-level initiative called – 'Mission Technical Textiles', which will help in research and development activities for new product development and also help entrepreneurs source raw materials.

As part of the initiative, Gujarat will allocate Rs three billion (USD 60 mn) for the promotion of the sector of which, the government will make provision for Rs 500 million (USD 10 mn) in the first year, Rs 1 billion (USD 20 mn) in the second year and Rs 1.5 billion (USD 30 mn) in the third year.

The Gujarat government is also providing assistance of 7% interest subsidy and an extra 1% percent for those entrepreneurs aged below 35 years for setting up converting units at an investment below Rs 250 million (USD 5 mn). This is in addition to other schemes from the Government of India like TUFs.

Speaking to technicaltextiles.net, Dr Chandan Chatterjee said, “Currently, there are around 150 nonwoven units functioning in the state, either commissioned or in the process of implementation. They are either, fabric manufacturers or converters”.

“This year, for the first time ever at the Vibrant Gujarat summit, around 35 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed in technical textiles alone, out of which about 80 percent are either commissioned or under implementation”.

“Investment amounting to around Rs 20 billion (USD 400 mn) is expected in the next five years and will either be made in setting up technical textile plants or into converting units. These investments will mainly flow in to production of Packaging textiles, Geo textiles and Medical textiles”.

Informing about assistance to those desiring to set up technical textile plants in Gujarat, he said, “Gujarat plans to set up a 'Centre of Excellence' (CoE) which will help entrepreneurs in product development, training, information etc and 70% of the costs will be subsidized by the Gujarat government”.

Dr Chatterjee expects that environmental concerns will be one of the main challenges that the technical textiles sector will face in the future. “We are making people cautious about this issue and also working on these lines”, he concluded by saying.

Mr Amit Agarwal an Ahmedabad based entrepreneur and also the Secretary of Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) is worried over the issue of over-capacity in any particular segment of technical textiles.

Commenting on the challenges, he said, “There are many technical textiles units coming up, due to the hype created about the sector, which is bound to create immediate over-capacity in any particular product or item, which will lead to a profitability constraint.

“Therefore the immediate need is to focus on marketing and promotion of the usage of technical textile products, which is the most important challenge that I foresee for the technical textile sector in India as of now”.

Mr Agarwal expects that there will be limited growth in global market for technical textiles. As far as India is concerned, he however, expects a growth of about 15-20% per annum.

TechnicalTextile.Net