Who should bell the cat? In other words, who should spearhead the creation of technical textiles consortium? Texas Tech University will soon be initiating a dialogue with all stake holders and interested parties in India. This will be a beginning at least!

Predictions are that the recession will last for two more years. However economy will show some signs of recovery in early 2010. Although this gives a good sense of hope, world economy will not be the same as it was in early 2000s. The United States, which will be still the leader of the industrialized world will have budget deficit over the next decade totaling well over 9 trillion dollars. The US budget deficit per year will be around 4-5% of its GDP. This situation will devalue the US dollar. If the dollar weakens, its exchange rate with Indian rupee will be affected resulting in serious negative impact for the Indian export industry. This particular economic aspect warrants India to think seriously towards non-commodity and value-added sectors, i.e., technical textiles sector. Time is right for the Indian textiles industry to tango on the technical textiles platform. Spring is here now with longer sunshine days and the Indian textile industry should jump on the spring board and look for new growth opportunities. Surely, non wovens and technical textiles sectors should be taken seriously. Time is also right for a unified voice to represent the nascent technical textiles industry.

The information expressed are personal views of the author. Here 'I' refers to him.

The article was originally published in Textile Review, April 2009

About the Author

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