ITTA’s AGM Announces New Strategies, Awards & Initiatives
The Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA) held its 14th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 13, 2024, at the Orchid Hotel in Mumbai. The event, chaired by Avinash Misar, saw a large gathering of ITTA members, special invitees and media representatives. Dr Anup Rakshit, Executive Director of ITTA, warmly welcomed all attendees. Mahesh Kudav, Vice Chairman of ITTA, conducted the business session.
The AGM was graced by Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary (Textiles), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, as the Chief Guest, and Virendra Singh (I.A.S.), Secretary (Textiles), Government of Maharashtra, as the Guest of Honour.
Key Highlights
Rajeev Saxena commended ITTA’s role in promoting technical textiles and its liaison efforts between the industry and the government. He emphasized the importance of innovation, stating that two-thirds of the investments under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme are directed towards technical textiles, with Rs 40 crore allocated to the sector. Saxena also announced upcoming Quality Control Orders (QCOs) for 11 technical textile products to curb the dumping of foreign goods and bolster domestic companies’ competitiveness.
He encouraged traditional textile manufacturers to diversify into technical textiles and urged ITTA to organize skill development programmes in Tier-2 cities to optimize unused capacities.
Virendra Singh shared details of Maharashtra’s State Textile Policy, emphasizing the development of six technical textile parks. The policy offers infrastructure support, capital subsidies and incentives for solar plants, zero liquid discharge and effluent treatment plants. An Expression of Interest (EoI) will soon be issued and a Maharashtra Technical Textile Mission will launch in two months. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ITTA and the Government of Maharashtra will soon be signed to support the implementation of these policies.
Avinash Misar, ITTA Chairman, expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Textiles for its continuous support and highlighted the need to address challenges such as the lack of availability of specialty fibres, yarns and chemicals in India. He emphasized that Quality Control Orders (QCOs) should not apply to upstream sectors where raw materials are not domestically produced, to avoid adverse effects on the industry’s growth.
ITTA Initiatives
Dr Anup Rakshit announced the introduction of two new membership categories: Associate & Student Membership, catering to individual entrepreneurs and startups entering the technical textile sector. Additionally, ITTA is collaborating with academic institutions to organize education and training programmes on technical textiles, complementing the goals of the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM). ITTA has already trained over 200 candidates through its Entrepreneurial Development Programs (EDPs).
Lifetime Achievement Award
A special moment during the AGM was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Pramod Khosla, Chairman of Khosla Profil Pvt. Ltd., for his significant contributions to the technical textile industry. Khosla was inducted into the ITTA Hall of Fame, joining Yogesh Kusumgar of Kusumgar Corporates and Mohan Kavrie of Supreme Nonwovens.
Innovation Awards
ITTA also presented Innovation Awards to five companies for their outstanding advancements in the technical textile industry:
Garware Technical Fibres Ltd. – Neeraj Shrivastava & Apurv Gadekar on the advancing sustainability: development of ropes from recycled materials – Renew Ropes.
SRF Ltd. – Angeline Divya, Associate Vice President on the development and commercialization of food-grade tank liners made from coated fabric for water storage in rural areas
High Performance Textiles Pvt. Ltd. – Nandan Kumar, Managing Director on the innovative inherent flame-retardant (IFR) fabric for arc-flash protection
Fibriltex Pvt. Ltd. – Ishaan Sharma, Director of Business Development on the flushable biodegradable sanitary pads
Indo German Yarn & Fibres LLP – Rajiv Sajdeh, Partner on the PROMYDE KARANW-2 WR 480 GSM fabric – personal protection sustainable
Lastly, ITTA announced the signing of an MoU with TVC Media & Promotion Pvt. Ltd. to launch the Technical Textiles Value Chain magazine, focusing on communication and developments in the technical textiles sector.
