According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 'The Impact on India of Trade Liberalisation in the Textiles and Clothing Sector', there is a huge market for technical textiles that include packaging, sports textiles, military textiles, medical and hygiene textiles.
Technical textiles could be the new cash cow for domestic textile manufacturers, going by the increasing demand for these products in various sectors.
These constitute non-clothing items used in aerospace, marine, medical, civil engineering and other industrial applications. Non-wovens account for a bulk of the demand, but there is an increasing interest in composite fabrics as well, according to the study.
Industry sources estimate that 90% of India's demand is currently met through imports, and few companies have set up manufacturing facilities for technical textiles. Currently, India's consumption of technical textiles is 20,000 tonnes per annum and it is seeing rapid growth. China, in comparison, already has a consumption of six lakh tonnes.
Ginni Filaments, manufacturers of cotton yarns and knitted fabrics, recently set up a 12,000 tonnes per annum capacity in Gujarat to produce non-woven fabrics, the first of its kind in India. The MD of Ginni Filaments, Shishir Jaipuria, said, “The area of technical textiles is vast and there are various technologies involved. We will manufacture products like wipes, intended to be used in beauty care, medical and hygiene textile segments.”
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