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| "Spinning new strategy on technical textiles a must"-Dr Ramkumar |
An "International Workshop on ��Technology & Marketing of Technical Textiles��, was organised by TecniTex Nonwovens Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore and Texas Tech University, USA in Coimbatore on July 3rd, 2009 with major support from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Textile Management. 170 delegates attended the event, the majority from the industry. The inaugural address was delivered by Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar, Associate Professor at Texas Tech University, USA and also Co-Chair, INDA-India Committee, USA and a global expert on technical textiles and nonwoven technology.
He said, ��When the world is in the grips of austerity, this conference is going to talk about prosperity, i.e., growth opportunities in the textiles sector. At the time that this conference is convening here in Coimbatore, reports from international economic bodies and the Government of India project grim pictures on the economy of developed nations and export numbers from India. Recent report from the Government of India shows that the exports in May 2009 dipped by 29.2% from the corresponding month in 2008.
��More importantly, in May 2009, exports dipped by 18.4% compared to April 2009. It is predicted that major markets such as the US and Europe will have less than 1% GDP growth in 2010. The important indicator for our textile industry is to keep a watch on the ��consumer savings rate��. Textile industry in developing countries such as India and China are very much dependent on this particular rate as it indicates the availability of disposable income which is being spent by the consumer.
��Recent data on the savings rate in the US show that this number is over 16%, which clearly indicates that consumers are not spending much on non-essential items. Why is this important and relevant to our Indian textile industry? Exports to Wal-Mart, JC Penny, Mother Care and other international retail outlets are predominantly durable goods such as 6 piece terry towel set, other home textile items and commodity textile garments. With the high unemployment rate at over 9.5% in the USA, exports to traditional export markets are becoming saturated.
��In addition, the comparative advantage India had in terms of labour is getting eroded due to the competition from countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Simply put, the changing economic order, globalization effect and shift in the consumer behaviour in developed nations are forcing countries like China, India and Eastern European nations to detour and seek opportunities beyond traditional textiles sector. These mainly involve;
1.Searching for new markets.
2.Utilisation of the existing infrastructure to develop value-added and high performance textiles.
3.Seize new opportunities in technical textiles products and invest in innovations and research & development.
All these aforementioned points are basically enhancing the existing infrastructure capabilities and infusing incremental investments to grow the new sector within the umbrella of the textile industry i.e., the growing technical textiles sector".
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 ��Technical textiles are basically value-added textile materials which are used to enhance the life style of people such as hygiene products, medical/hospital garments, environmental textile materials such as filters, infrastructural textiles such as buildtech and geotextiles, etc. These products will become necessary items as the demography and the life style of the developing nations change. The unique feature of this technical textiles is that they have abundant opportunities in both domestic and export markets.
��More importantly, burgeoning opportunities in the domestic market for these materials is indeed a boom for the Indian textile industry as the industry will not be subjected to the vagaries of export business such as currency fluctuation, foreign government policy changes such as protectionism, etc.
��Globally, even developed nations where the conventional textile industry is a sunset industry, because of the end-use applications and the ever growing need for value-added textile products, technical textiles industry is said to be growing around 4-5%. This growth is astonishing when seen in the light of the fact that, USA and Europe are predicted to have a negative GDP growth of 2.5-4.5% in the forthcoming quarters in 2009. This means even in the recession, technical textiles sector is expected to grow at a minimum of 3-4 times faster than the growth of GDP.
��Shifting the focus to the Eastern Hemisphere, GDP is expected to grow around 6-7% in India and 8% in China. In this scenario, it is logical to expect near double-digit growth for the Indian technical textiles sector in new future. Looking at the growth in population, even though China��s population is ahead of India by 200 million, as of today, the rate of population growth will be higher in India which is well suited for the growth of the technical textiles industry. Due to the population growth, the need and the consumption of baby care products such as diapers and wipes will be on the rise.
��The growth in the salary levels in developing nations is a positive factor towards the growth of technical textiles. It is expected that the middle class population in India will grow and reach half a billion by 2030. The growing middle class population is an important customer for the technical textiles sector. The recent 6th pay commission implemented by the Government of India has raised the pay scale for Government employees and has provided necessary impetus for consumers to start spending.
��Prompted by this, industries have played their role by creating enticing marketing schemes to boost the consumption of disposable and durable goods where technical textiles are also used. For example, the Indian automobile sector is enticing salaried employees by giving attractive schemes to purchase new vehicles such as car. With the increase in consumption and the usage of such products, it will automatically lead to the growth of the technical textiles sector in India.
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 ��Under the circumstances, the Indian industry should, first and foremost, categorically understand that technical textiles are not limited to woven fabrics and nonwoven materials alone. Technical textiles sector is a broad based industry and encompasses fiber to fabric and fabric to finished goods. Technical textiles can be high performance fibers, yarns, woven, knitted, nonwovens and composite materials.
��Technical textiles materials are not banal fabrics but are fully finished end-use products such as packaged wipes, finished diapers, finished geotextiles and even functional finished apparel materials. The most important message for the Indian textile industry is that the conversion of fabrics and yarns to high-tech products is the gateway for the next phase of the textile industry. In other words, attention has to be focused immediately to create a converting sector within the technical textiles industry.
��The converting sector will consist of small and medium scale enterprises that convert roll goods to useful products such as diapers, wipes, medical fabrics, molded automotive components such as boot liners, oil filters, etc. In addition to the existing theoretical and technical know how, it is of utmost importance to infuse marketing ideas. Government of India and all stakeholders have to take these points to their hearts and create platforms for hooking-up with international trade bodies so that information on markets are available to the existing emerging entrepreneurs in the technical textiles field.
��To give an example, according to the USA based Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), the world market for industrial textiles in 2010 is 120 billion dollars. Currently, China contributes 46% to the US import market in industrial fabrics whereas India��s contribution is a miniscule 7%. It is an irony that even Pakistan leads India by 1% in supplies of industrial textiles. There are a lot of opportunities to seize in specialty fabrics. It is not feasible for small and medium entrepreneurs and even large scale companies to invest in R & D.
��There should be public-private partnership to focus on mission-linked R & D and product development in technical textiles. It should be noted here that new products which are not developed by our neighboring competitors such as China, Pakistan in industrial textiles should be the frontrunners for our industry. These latest technical and market information although not readily available, can be had by having collaborations and exchanges with leading universities in the field such as the North Corolona State University, USA, Texas Tech University, USA, University of Leeds, UK, Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany, Deakin University, Australia, etc.
��In addition, it is important to think positively towards green/sustainable next-generation technical textiles industry in India. This way, India will lead China and other competingcountries in the field. India has raw material resources to kick start the technical textile base in India. Right now, India is a leader in polyester production, world��s largest producer of viscose rayon and world��s second largest producer of cotton. Although the existing capacity can be geared towards technical textiles sector, it is essential to develop additional raw material base that can fully satisfy the needs of the technical textiles sector.
 ��For example, India is in need of high tenacity polyester fibers, high performance antiballistic fibers such as para aramids and high tenacity polyelhylene, etc. Hopefully, the proposed National Fibre Policy, which India��s Honourable Union Minister of Textiles, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran hopes to implement by the end of 2009 may help with the raw material requirements for the emerging technical textiles sector in India.
��In order for India to have double digit growth, attributes such as job creation, inclusive economic growth, infrastructure development and health care improvement are minimum requirements. Interestingly, technical textiles will play important role in all these aforementioned areas and the textile materials which are going to help with the growth of India will be technical textiles. In my forecast, the per capita consumption of technical textiles in India will grow from the current meager amount of 100 to 200 grams to 1.5 kilograms.
��At this point of time, the middle class population will explode and will reach a target of half a billion. If the target of 8% growth in the Indian textile sector has to be achieved, there needs to be a greater contribution from the technical textiles sector. Therefore, ��Spinning a new textile strategy�� for the Indian textiles industry is a must.
��This focused workshop on technical textiles for the first time will infuse both technical and marketing know how on technical textiles. There will be presentations from consultants and leading companies in nonwovens and technical textiles who are successful in India. More importantly, latest world and Indian market reports on both disposable and durable technical textiles (nonwoven and industrial fabrics) will be presented from world��s leading trade bodies such as Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, Cary, USA and Industrial Fabrics Association, International, Roseville, USA.
��I urge the Government of India and all the stakeholders in the industry, particularly the conventional textiles sector to make efforts within a year to create more marketing and technical awareness on the processes and products so, this way, by the time the global economic situation shifts into high gear by mid 2010, the Indian technical textiles sector will start crawling��, he concluded by saying.
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