The Indian ministry of textiles yesterday cleared 20 strategic research projects worth ₹30 crore in speciality fibres and geotextiles under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). Sixteen speciality fibre projects are five in healthcare, four in industrial and protective categories, three in energy storage, three in textile waste recycling and one in agriculture.

Representatives from various institutes, centres of excellence and government organisations participated in the session that cleared the projects.

Addressing them, textile minister Piyush Goyal said the focus should be on high value addition and inter-ministerial synergy for attracting mega research projects, according to an official release.

Eleven research projects worth ₹78.60 crore were cleared by the ministry on March 26 last year.