Ministry of Textiles approved Startups in Technical Textiles to boost innovation and sustainability and to foster transformative developments that will shape the industry's future.  This was stated by Rachna Shah, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, while chairing the 7th meeting of the Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) of National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) here today.      

NTTM’s Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT) encourages young innovators, scientists/technologists, and startup ventures in the field of Technical Textiles to translate their ideas into commercial technologies/products and make India self-reliant. GREAT supports individual entrepreneurs or start-ups for functional prototypes or commercialization of their technologies for Technical Textiles, she said.

The Empowered Programme Committee (EPC) has approved 7 startup proposals under the GREAT scheme. GOI is providing a maximum fund support of INR 50 lakhs per startup. As of date, 8 startup proposals have been approved under NTTM, focusing on sustainability, composites, high-performance textiles, meditech, and smart textiles, driving significant advancements in these crucial areas.

Some of the start-ups which were approved by EPC and can go a long way in driving technology-oriented manufacturing in India are ‘developing and manufacturing Braided Composites for Military applications, Radmone Integrated IFF Antenna, Surgical Stimulations models made-up of composites for training doctors, Nano-fibre infused textiles for energy generation and sensing.’

Additionally, the EPC has approved a grant of approximately INR 6.4 crores to IIT Guwahati to introduce new papers/subjects in technical textiles and upgrade laboratory infrastructure in its Civil Engineering Department. The grant has been provided under NTTM’s ‘General Guidelines for Enabling of Academic Institutes in Technical Textiles- for Private & Public Institutes’.

By enhancing its laboratory infrastructure and expanding its capabilities in technical textiles, especially geotextiles, IIT Guwahati, a premier institute in North East Region, would be better equipped to address the unique geographical and environmental conditions of the region. The grant would catalyze the institute to become a key enabler of NER's development by offering technical consultancy and necessary support.