Minister of State for Textiles (Independent Charge), Santosh Kumar Gangwar speaking at the curtain raiser event of Technotex 2016, held in New Delhi on Friday, said that a special focus has been given to technical textiles and has provided capital subsidy of 15 percent for technical textile machinery under Amended TUFS scheme.

The technical textiles can play an important role in the nation's social and economic fronts. As examples, Gangwar pointed out the applications of geotextiles in infrastructure and agrotextiles in improving agricultural productivity and quality of output.

The Minister recalled the launch of a 427 crore rupees Government of India scheme to promote usage of Geotechnical Textiles in the North Eastern Region of India, in March 2015. This scheme would provide support for use of geotextiles in road construction, slope stabilization and water reservoirs. He expressed satisfaction at the completion of the construction of the airport access road at Imphal, using geotextiles.

Approval has been also given for 13 water reservoir projects in Manipur and Tripura, and for two projects in road construction and slope stabilization in the two states, all employing geotextiles. Also 44 demonstration centers at a total cost of Rs 8.17 crore have been approved, in order to promote agrotextiles in North East region; out of this, 23 demonstration centers have started functioning. In addition, 263 agrotextile kits have been distributed to farmers in Manipur and Mizoram.

In order to promote agrotextiles in other parts of India, a pilot scheme has been approved. Two demonstration centres are being set up under the scheme in drought- affected areas in Amravati district of Maharashtra. Besides this, 60 farmers in Amravati have been identified for distribution of agrotextile kits, said the Minister.

The government has set up six focus incubation centres at a cost of Rs 17.4 crore which would help budding entrepreneurs build innovative technical textile products in a 'plug and play' model, and would help promote 'Make in India' in textiles," added minister.

On the occasion, the Textiles Minister released the Baseline survey on Technical Textiles and BIS Standards for the industry. The release of the survey and standards is an important step forward in the Government's efforts for standardization of technical textile products in India. The Minister also released the event brochure for Technotex 2016.

Technotex event to be held in Mumbai from April 21 to 23, 2016 to showcase products from various sub-sectors of technical textiles, such as Indutech, Meditech, Mobiltech, Ecotech, Geotech, Packtech, Protech, Sportech, Agrotech, Clothtech, technical textiles equipment and machinery, raw materials and textile manufacturing services.

Technotex event, organized by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), is a flagship event comprising an international exhibition, conference, and seminars.