Centre Fuels Innovation In Technical Textiles With Rs 50 Lakh Grants For Seven Startups

In a move to boost innovation in textiles, the Centre approved grants of Rs 50 lakh each for seven startups in the technical textiles sector on Thursday under the government’s National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).

Proposals focusing on sustainability, composites, high-performance textiles, Meditech, and smart textiles have been approved by the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC), chaired by Textiles Secretary Rachna Shah, the ministry stated.

The grants have been approved under the NTTM’s Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT) scheme. GREAT supports individual entrepreneurs or startups for functional prototypes or commercialisation of their technologies in Technical Textiles.

It may be noted that the textile ministry aims to support 150 startups to promote innovations in technical textiles. To date, eight startup proposals have been approved under the scheme.

Technical textiles refer to textile materials and products valued for their technical performance and functional properties rather than their aesthetic appeal or decorative features.

These textiles find application either independently or as integral parts of other products. They encompass a wide array of specialised segments categorised based on product characteristics, functional demands, and end-use applications.

In 2021, the National Technical Textiles Mission was launched with the ambitious goal of reaching a market size of $40 billion and achieving exports worth $10 billion in the technical textiles sector by 2024-25.