Raising concern over India's share in U.S. imports of technical textiles and non-woven fabrics which is way behind China, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Tuesday said the domestic industry needed R&D support.
“India's share in U.S. imports of special purpose fabric (technical textiles) and non-woven fabrics was merely 2.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively in 2009 as compared to China's share of 15 per cent and 12 per cent,” a FICCI study said.
India needs to strengthen its capabilities to tap this growing market as technology-intensive products are the future, it said. The study said there was a need to formulate a comprehensive research and development (R&D) policy for the Indian textile industry.
The chamber has submitted its recommendations to the Ministry of Textiles in this regard.
Eco-friendly textiles
“The policy should aim at increasing the country's share of advance technology-based products and high value-added items in global market to 7 per cent in the next five years from less than 2 per cent now,” the FICCI study said.
The chamber has also recommended setting up of a National Textiles Research Council with a seed-money of Rs. 30 crore and an annual grant of Rs. 10 crore.
The chamber said the policy should provide a special focus on eco-friendly textiles that would help in reducing carbon footprint.
