Mumbai : The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in association with the Ministry of Textiles, has organized the three-day exhibition, ’10th edition of TechnoTex 2023′, at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, of which the second day concluded with the insightful round table conferences on covering the Indian technical textile industry and the allied sectors.
The second day of the ‘TechnoTex 2023’ commenced with a roundtable Meeting on ‘Technical Textiles – A User Perspective (Defence & Security Institutions).’ Mr Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, chaired the session, which included Commodore Manoj Sharma Principal Director of Clothing & Victualling, Directorate of Clothing and Victualling, Indian Navy, Brigadier Navneet Narain, Brig Procurement-MGS Branch, Indian Army and Wing Commander Urmila Kumari, Chief Logistic Officer-16 BRD, Indian Air Force, on the panel. The session was moderated by Dr Arindam Basu, Director General, NITRA, and highlighted the buyer’s perspective on India as both a market and a destination for sourcing and their outlook on India’s product mix, innovation, quality levels, and product standardization. 
The second roundtable conference was conducted on ‘Exploring the Window of Opportunity for the Usage of Technical Textiles in PM GATI SHAKTI,’ wherein the esteemed speakers Mr Prasanna Joshi, Chief Engineer (P) Shivalik, Border Roads Organisation, Brig, Col. Rahul Shrivastav, Border Roads Organisation, Mr S K Oza, ARE- Geotechnical Engineering Directorate, Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Mr Tiru Kulkarni, President-Geo-Synthetics Division, Garware Technical Fibres Ltd, Dr Vasnat Hayanagi, Chief Scientist & Head – Geotechnical Engineering Division (GE), Central Road Research Institute and Mr Narendra Dalmia, Chief Executive Officer, Strata Geosystems (India) Pvt. Ltd. The session emphasized on understanding the expectations and perspectives of the different Line Ministries and Departments relevant to Geotextiles, Agrotextiles, Building Textiles, and Industrial Textiles. The discussions also revolved around acknowledging the opportunities for Geotextiles in infrastructural projects under PM GATI SHAKTI. This session was chaired by Dr Anup Rakshit, ED, ITTA.
The third roundtable meeting was aimed at ‘Exploring the potential of Technical Textiles for protected and sustainable Agro produce’, focusing on the Agrotextiles sector as one of the forerunners among the technical textile segments. Agrotextiles Products & Technologies can potentially empower the National Mission to build “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. The mass adoption of such tools can help achieve the National Goal of “Doubling Farmers’ Income”. Enhancing the adoption rate and capitalizing on new opportunities by using technical textiles in agriculture was at the core of the discussion. The esteemed speakers of this session were Dr Ashok Kumar Tiwari, Sr Director, Sasmira, and Mr Shujaul Rehman, CEO, Garware Technical Fibres Limited, Mr Anand Zambre, Executive Director, National Committee on Precision Agriculture and Horticulture (NCPAH), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Mr Kamlesh Bhatia, GM Marketing, Rishi Techtex Ltd. The session was moderated by Dr Manisha Mathur, Joint Director, Sasmira.
The fourth roundtable meeting focused on ‘Developing Domestic Capabilities and Capacities in the field of Meditech’ wherein the esteemed speakers Lt Col (Retd) Dr L C Verma, CEO, Godrej Memorial Hospital, Mr Joy Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer, P D Hinduja Hospital, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, K.J. Somaiya Hospital & Research Centre, Dr Viraj S Karuley, Senior Medical Officer, CGHS Mumbai and moderated by Dr Santhini Head In charge-COE Medical Textiles, SITRA. It was discussed how the field of medical textiles has been the outcome and combination of continuous development in textile technology and medical sciences, developing domestic capabilities and capacities in Meditech and exploring opportunities to strengthen India’s role in the global market.
The last session of the roundtable emphasized ‘Canvassing on Standards, Quality, Regulatory & Trade Aspects of Technical Textiles’ while focusing on today’s World, maintaining and upgrading aspects such as standards, quality, regulations & trade are required continuously as per the use of the industry, to compete on the global stage. In this context, more than 500 BIS standards for Technical Textiles have been developed, more than 30 new technical textile Harmonized System (HSN) codes have been created other than 207 already existing HSN Codes, and the process for issuing QCOs for 54 items out of 107 identified standards for technical textiles products has been initiated. The moderator for this session was Dr M S Parmar, Director, NITRA. The esteemed speakers were Mr Dharmbeer Yadav, Scientist C, Bureau of Indian Standards, Mr Mayur Katiyar, Scientist B, Bureau of Indian Standards, Dr Anup Rakshit, Executive Director, ITTA, Mr D Veerasubramanian, Scientific Officer, SITRA. The session was chaired by Mr Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India.
The second day of the event concluded with networking, and an interactive session, exploring new prospects for the growth of the Indian technical textile industry to achieve the target of envisioning Indian technical textiles by 2047.
