Three Centres of Excellence under the Textiles Ministry in Coimbatore are set to promote innovative applications for textiles, especially using non-woven materials with several medium and large-scale industries looking at technical textiles for diverse applications.

The Centres of Excellence for industrial textiles and home textiles at the PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research campus and the one for medical textiles at the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) will soon have incubation facilities (plug-and-play model), The Hindu has reported.

The market size for industrial textiles in the country is Rs. 9,929 crore, for medical textiles it is Rs. 4,282 crore and Rs. 9,274 crore for home textiles. The market is growing at the rate of six per cent to 14 per cent annually, depending on the product.

In 2012-2013, industrial textiles comprised 22 per cent of the total technical textiles imported (Rs. 6,525 crore), medical textiles were 15 per cent and home textiles were seven per cent.

India exported technical textiles worth Rs. 7,117 crore. Of this, this 15.1 per cent was industrial textiles, 9.9 per cent was medical textiles, and 10.9 per cent was home textiles.

The focused incubation centre at the PSG Institute will come up at a
cost of Rs. 2.85 crore. It will look at filtration products, coir and acoustic materials.

According to G. Thilagavathi, head of the department of Textile Technology at PSG College of Technology, the Centre promotes research, encourages industry to use the machinery installed, takes up testing, imparts training, and also manufactures products for commercial use.

The institute has set up full production lines to make wet wipes for diverse uses and needle punching coir products and is working on various raw materials to produce non-woven mats that can be used as filter in different industries.

“Some of the testing equipment are not available elsewhere and the industry can use it. Similarly, industries can join hands with the centre to take up research of products for specific applications. The Centre can be used by any industry,” she said. The Centre has signed agreements with some industries to take up product-specific research.

With more focus on research and better awareness on the facilities available at the Centre, development and manufacture of products for industrial purpose can grow and these would be cost-effective too, she said.