India’s government now estimates that the country’s growing technical textiles sector will reach $36 billion by 2016-17, according to Seshadri Ramkumar of Texas Tech University, in a recent www.commodityonline.com report. He says an estimated annual growth rate of 20% is expected.

The Indian government is promoting the growth of the technical textiles sector by creating new centers of excellence, market research and support programs. “Sujit Gulati, joint secretary of the Ministry of Textiles India, while inaugurating a one day seminar on technical textiles in the South Indian City, Coimbatore, emphasized the need for inter-ministerial coordination involving Ministry of Textiles, Health and Highways, to grow the emerging technical textiles sector,” the report said. The conference was jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Ministry of Textiles and was held in Coimbatore on July 26, 2011.

During the conference, Anil Joshi, Textiles Commissioner of India, is said to have emphasized the need for implementing technical textiles to improve the hygiene and medical sector in India.

In his report, Ramkumar says that Govindhan Ramakrishnan, a professor of textiles and a delegate who attended the conference, had spoken to him from Coimbatore and said that market awareness and knowledge of converted products are essential for the growth of the technical textiles sector in India.

“India offers enormous opportunities for collaborators to conduct knowledge enriching workshops to boost the technical textiles sector,” Ramkumar says.

In December 2011, USA-based Texas Tech University and Coimbatore-based Kumaraguru College of Technology are jointly hosting an international conference on technical textiles, ATNT-2011. The organizers have provided more information on the event at www.atnt2011.com.