What is needed in the Short to Near Long Term?

Creating greater awareness on the marketing of technical textiles is the need of the hour. This should include:

1. What will be the growth?
2. Who are the global leaders?
3. Whom to approach to sell globally and
4. Where to go and sell?

Over the past few months, I have been pushing interested parties in India and abroad to initiate trade delegations so that connectivity can be established among all stake holders Trade bodies in India such as SRTEPC, SIMA and global bodies such as the USA based INDA and IFAI and Europe based EDANA should consider this issue seriously in 2009. The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India should be a part of this mission. Such a mission will open the black box and will provide the Indian and Western technical textiles sector to get a better picture of the industry situation in India. An important aspect, which cannot be neglected is "Mission based Research", that will lead to innovation in the industry. A two prong approach has to be followed:

1. Mission linked basic research spanning the entire supply chain. This should be carried out as a collaborative endeavor between the Ministry of Textiles and the Department of Science and Technology. Atleast in the next budget cycle, a pot of cash has to be earmarked and should be overseen by an autonomous central body. This autonomous body can be operated more or less similar to the National Textile Center consortium in the USA and

2. Industry specific and problem solving research programme supported as a joint venture between the Ministry of Textiles and the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. This can be modeled after the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany. In the fast growing and competitive world, those who deliver what the consumers want, and at the same time cheaper and faster will be the industry trend setters.

Things have changed and people are improving their life in many different ways. India is a place to eye on and certainly the Indian textile sector will have its share in the growth story.

About the Author:

The author is associated with Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.