Indian Government on March 25 officially announced the creation of four new Centers of Excellence in technical Textiles as part of Technology Mission on Technical Textiles (TMTT), according to Seshadri Ramkumar, of Texas Tech University.


Total investment will be about $22 million for a period of three years.
In speaking to Dr. Ramkumar last week,Anil Joshi, India’s Textile Commissioner advised that the Project Advisory Committee under the chairpersonship of India’s Textile Secretary metMarch 18 and selected the four new centers. He said Phase I money will be released as soon as possible once the designated centers establish suitable launch vehicle to execute the program.


The four focus areas are nonwovens, sportech, indutech and composites. The funding will be for a period of three years from 2010 to 2013. Each center will receive a government support of Rupees 24.5 crores ($5.44 million), which will be used for infrastructure and personnel support. Majority of the funding support will go towards capital equipment.


Ichalkaranji based DKTE Textile & Engineering Institute will establish the center for nonwovens. Professor Kadole, project coordinator for this proposed center spoke from Ichalkaranji, India to Dr. Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, on March 25th and expressed his thanks to the Government of India for establishing the first one-stop R&D center for nonwoven technology in India. Texas Tech University is collaborating with this institute in establishing the center of excellence in nonwovens. Kadole said the institute will provide $1.44 million toward establishing the center.

Guru Gobind Singhji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Nanded and Garware Wall Ropes, Ltd. Pune will establish the center for sportech. Coimbatore based PSG College of Technology will create center for industrial textiles. Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association will focus on composites.