p>Technical yarns, fabrics and finishes were the subject of two, two-day conferences staged by the VDMA Textile Machinery Association and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) in New Delhi and Mumbai, India, last week.
Opening the New Delhi conference, Rita Menon, Indian Ministry of Textiles Secretary said: “We foresee the role of German technology as crucial for the development of the technical textile sector in India.”
In New Delhi the conference was attended by about 160 visitors, whereas in Mumbai 290 visitors followed company presentations by 18 well-known textile technology manufacturers.
Boris Abadjieff of the VDMA said: “The visitor numbers in Mumbai clearly show that Mumbai belongs to the most important textile hubs in India and Asia.”
The technology lectures were divided into two sections covering production of technical yarns and fabrics, and finishing. Visitors were said to be particularly interested in the former.
VDMA-member companies from Germany and Austria presented basic and innovative solutions to enable their Indian customers to start or increase technical textiles production.
They emphasised that high quality textile technology - machinery and components such as measuring, testing and control devices - is required along the textile chain to ensure that the technical textile produced fulfils its desired function. The speakers also focused on the advantages of efficient production technology in terms of manufacturing costs, energy and material use.
Automotive, medical and healthcare are among the fastest growing technical textile applications in India. Most key technical textile manufacturers such as Reliance Industries Ltd, GRASIM, SRF, Madura Industrial Textiles as well as research institutes and centres of excellence for technical textiles attended the conference.
Various governmental measures are intended to facilitate reorientation of the Indian textile industry. Mrs Menon and A B Joshi, Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles (Government of India) mentioned the Technology Upgradation Funding Scheme (TUFS), the ongoing set-up of four Centres of Excellence, training and seminar activities and the existing reduction of certain tariffs to 5% for textile machinery imported to India.
However, the VDMA said there were still obstacles to overcome. “The market development of technical textiles in India still has to be intensified. One example is the lack of regulations and standards e.g. in the areas of infrastructure and healthcare, which would provide the impetus for use and sustainable growth of technical textiles,” it said.
So far, use of geotextiles, for example, is not mandatory in India; if this situation changed it could stimulate investment.
India was the second most important market for German textile machinery exports in 2009, worth €161m. This is said to have prompted VDMA Textile Machinery Association to apply for an official German pavilion at Texmac India 2011.
