Sweden in talks with Aditya Birla Group for smart textiles project

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Nov 16, 2017

The Swedish government is in talks with India’s leading conglomerate Aditya Birla Group for a joint venture to develop smart textiles, said a senior official from the government of Sweden.

If the talks are successful a MOU (memorandum of understanding) will be signed in the coming months that will involve the two governments, Swedish firm Domsjo and India’s Birla group. Fabriker (Domsjö) a leading Swedish speciality pulp and bio-refinery company was acquired by the Aditya Birla Group in April 2011.

Sweden is looking to scale up its investments to support the textile industry and also improve bilateral trade between the two nations.

The bilateral trade between the two countries currently stands at over $2 billion with India being Sweden’s third largest trade partner after China and Japan.

Last month India had organised a two day Make in India event in Stockholm with the aim of exploring synergies and avenues of partnership between Indian and Swedish manufacturing industries. The talks with the Indian government and Aditya Birla group are believed to be a result of this event.

"We are having discussions for a joint project in the area of smart textiles and we had discussions on this with the Aditya Birla Group," Swedish minister for enterprises & innovation and rural affairs Sven-Erik Bucht was quoted as saying by a news agency.

"The prime aim of this visit is to boost development of smart textiles using VSF, cellulosic fibre and pulp as an alternative to cotton and hence the Birla group is a natural fit with its easily blendable cellulosic fibre," he said.

The Aditya Birla Group is the world's largest producer of viscose staple fibre (VSF) and viscose filament yarn (VFY), commanding a 24 per cent global market share in VSF. It is also one of the major Indian investors in Sweden.