India's Technical Textiles Power Play NTTM & PLI are Flipping the Script

A few years ago, technical textiles were viewed as a peripheral segment, limited in scope, underinvested and heavily reliant on imports.

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Today, they stand at the centre of India's industrial transformation. This shift is not incidental. It is the outcome of deliberate strategy, policy foresight and national commitment, anchored in the larger vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat under the dynamic leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Whether it was scaling up PPE production during the COVID-19 crisis, supporting the armed forces with indigenous protective gear, or supplying critical material inputs for operations like Sindoor, technical textiles have demonstrated their role as enablers of national preparedness and industrial progress.

From Niche to Strategic: The Policy Imperative

A pivotal moment came during a review meeting of the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM), where I had the opportunity to interact with the then Chairman of ISRO, Dr. S. Somanath. He underlined the growing need for specialty fibres such as carbon fibre, UHMWPE (Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) and nylon 66-materials essential for high performance aerospace applications. His message was unequivocal: India must build indigenous capabilities in these domains, not just to reduce dependency, but to unlock the next level of our scientific advancement. That conversation reaffirmed the strategic importance of technical textiles in India's growth narrative, from laboratories to launchpads.

From Lab to Launchpads and Battlegrounds

The defence sector too has begun to feel the strategic value of this transformation. Take for instance Operation Sindoor, conducted recently by our armed forces, where protective clothing and ballistic gear to camouflage fabrics and chemical-biological protection suits technical textiles played a vital role. As we began investing early in domestic capacity-building, today we are able to support our defence sector not just with manpower, but with material that meets global standards, developed and manufactured on Indian soil.