Focus on Bigger Scale, Quality, Speed and Higher Volume: Union Minister Piyush Goyal at Technotex 2023

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 25th Feb. Union Minister for Textiles Piyush Goyal has said that it is time for the Indian textile industry to focus on scale, quality, speed and higher volume.

He was addressing the Keynote Session of ‘Technotex 2023: Envisioning Indian Technical Textiles @2047′, the 10th edition of the International Exhibition and Conference on Technical Textiles, at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Goregaon, Mumbai on Friday.

“Time to Capture World Markets, with Growth, Scale, Speed and Volume”

The Minister said that this is the right time to capture world markets. “It is time we started looking at scale and more composite plants, to use more modern technology, thereby also enabling us to meet the needs of large corporate buyers across the world. Many international companies tell me that they are not able to find high-quality high volume suppliers, even though many would prefer to have a relationship with India and work with a democracy with transparent rule-based systems. In this context, it is time we look at growth, scale and speed. Today is the right time to capture world markets. Our Free Trade Agreements with UAE and Australia came into force last year. We are also working on agreements with other countries including those of the European Union. The direction is to become an international player; no country has become a developed nation without playing an integral role in the global supply chain. We have to integrate our economy with those of the developed countries to reach our potential and the desire of our young population.”

The Minister said that given the vast range of usage for technical textiles, this is the area of the future.

“I appeal to startups as well as large corporations to consider expanding rapidly in the technical textiles field. Our share of the global market is about 2.5%; I believe that the Indian market will grow faster than 12% if we are able to showcase its purposes.”

“We can shoot for a 200 billion dollar industry in Technical Textiles”Also embed the link

Encouraging the participants to be big and bold, the Minister shared his belief that we can shoot for a 200 billion dollar industry in technical textiles. “The technical textile sector will enable us to find applications in modern technology areas. Technical textiles are going to be used increasingly in ocean ships and in the airline industry as well.”

The Minister said that Technotex will help us showcase our own abilities to Indian companies and the rest of the world. “More webinars, seminars and conferences with technical people from different user sectors should be held, where the textiles industry can showcase the various applications of technical textiles.”

He exhorted the domestic industry to earn the trust of the world as reliable suppliers of technical textiles, so that the market share of India can be significantly expanded.

“Capture India’s G20 Presidency Opportunity”

Speaking of India’s G20 Presidency, the Minister asked the technical textile industry and the textiles industry in general to capture the opportunities afforded by the G20 meetings to find opportunities to do business with friendly countries.

The Minister recalled the 5-F Principle of Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign espoused by the Prime Minister as the way forward for the industry.

Asserting that the environment is conducive and positive, the Minister underlined that what we need are focussed goals and actionable agenda.

Speaking of the Rs. 1,480 crore National Technical Textile Mission, the Minister urged the industry and other stakeholders to examine what new research, new compounds, fabrics, composites and final products can be leveraged in order to capture the global market.

“We will be happy to offer all eight Textile Research Associations and other government institutes to support any private sector initiative, to get high quality scientific rigour into your innovations and fast-track your proposals.”

“Train Two Lakh People in Two Years”

The Minister said that the Ministry could offer technical training in the SAMARTH scheme, along with a skilling component which is available under the National Technical Textile Mission.

“I urge the industry to utilize these schemes, to contribute to the development of skilled personnel in the industry. I would like the technical textile industry to have a target of 2 lakh people being trained every two years.”

The Minister announced that a Committee will be constituted to oversee and monitor the aforementioned training of manpower for the technical textile sector.

The Minister said that the Production Linked Incentive scheme is doing well and that the Ministry is coming up with further additions to the Scheme for finished products.

Speaking of the circular economy, the Minister encouraged everyone to look at waste and keep sustainability as a key element of the work done by the industry.

The Minister exhorted everyone including the student community to make quality and sustainability a part of our lives.

“All of us and our young generation should imbibe the principle of Zero Effect Zero Defect in our lives and make quality a mantra. BIS has come up with seven quality standards today, Quality Control Orders are also going to be institutionalized in the days to come. This will help us to make our products world-class.”

Let us aspire to make India Aatma Nirbhar, at the same time, we have the strength to make the world reliant on India, the Minister said.