From Policy to Practice: How PHDCCI Aims to Fast-Track India’s Technical Textiles Growth

Technical textiles intersect with diverse sectors—automotive, defence, infrastructure, healthcare, and more—yet many operate in silos. How does the conference intend to facilitate inter-sectoral collaboration or cross-pollination that can lead to integrated growth?
Rakesh Sangrai: The conference will host cross-sectoral dialogues—bringing together stakeholders from difference verticals in Ludhiana. The conference will foster B2B partnerships and encourage joint R&D, skill development, workforce development, and knowledge exchange, etc.

The technical textiles value chain in India suffers from fragmentation and uneven infrastructure access, especially in the processing stage. Will there be dedicated sessions or outcomes from this conference aimed at resolving these structural bottlenecks?
Rakesh Sangrai: Structural bottlenecks in the technical textiles value chain—especially in processing and testing is an important issue. During this conference we do not have any dedicated session, but, we expect that during the conference the speakers and delegates may delve on the subject and interact on this as well. 

Despite India’s growing capabilities, import dependence remains high for high-value components and specialised machinery. How does the conference plan to engage with international participants or partners to address the gaps in technology transfer and equipment access?
Rakesh Sangrai: The conference will include a speaker from Oerlikon Textile India who is one of the leading providers of technologies for the production of manmade fibres and offers gear metering pumps for the textile and other industries, including the automotive, chemical and paint industries.

The global conversation is rapidly shifting towards sustainability and circularity—domains where technical textiles can play a catalytic role. What sustainability narratives or frameworks will this conference push forward, particularly in the context of India’s own textile goals?
Rakesh Sangrai: In alignment with India’s broader textile goals and commitments, the conference will feature sessions on sustainability and compliance in technical textiles. It will encourage businesses to integrate sustainability as a value proposition, not just compliance.

India’s technical textiles market is projected to grow from USD 14 billion in 2020 to USD 23.3 billion by 2027, yet per capita consumption remains a mere 1.7 kg. What, in your view, are the most effective levers to drive up domestic adoption and reduce this glaring gap?
Rakesh Sangrai: The biggest levers to bridge India’s low per capita consumption are:

• Awareness and education on applications among users;
• Policy-led procurement, especially in agriculture, health, and defence; and
• Incentivising domestic product substitution in sectors like infrastructure and packaging.

Government efforts like NTTM and PLI are bold in vision but uneven in execution, particularly at the state and institutional levels. What are the structural or bureaucratic hurdles impeding implementation, and how do you suggest these be realistically addressed?
Rakesh Sangrai: The NTTM and PLI (Productivity-Linked Incentives) schemes are transformative; implementation challenges are there, but we expect that this will be taken care by the government stakeholders such as DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) and the Ministry of Textiles, with actionable inputs from industry and academia.

Segments like Packtech continue to dominate exports, despite being lower in value and less technology-intensive. What are the realistic chances for India to break into advanced segments like Indutech, Meditech, or Mobiltech—and what’s holding us back?|
Rakesh Sangrai: India has the capacity and potential to scale in higher-value segments like Indutech and Meditech. However, constraints include limited domestic demand, weak R&D linkages, and lack of certifications.

India’s rapid PPE manufacturing scale-up during COVID-19 was globally praised, yet this success hasn’t translated into broader capacity or brand visibility for the sector. Why do you think this momentum was not harnessed, and what lessons does that experience offer?
Rakesh Sangrai: The PPE scale-up demonstrated India's agility and industrial depth, but lack of branding, long-term planning, and ecosystem development limited sustained benefits. This experience was useful to draw lessons for institutionalising resilience, branding strategies, and nurturing local champions in technical textiles.

For India to become a top-5 global exporter of technical textiles by 2030, as the government envisions, it needs a massive shift in manufacturing strategy. What are the key pillars you believe industry must focus on—R&D, design, IP, supply chains—to realistically meet this target?
Rakesh Sangrai: To realise this vision, India needs to focus on R&D investments and patenting, branding and quality assurance, export incentives for high-tech segments, supply chain modernisation and skilling.

A large share of innovation in technical textiles globally is now driven by startups and university labs, often backed by agile funding. Is India’s startup ecosystem and academia aligned with this innovation cycle, or are we still stuck in the ‘vendor’ mindset of contract manufacturing?
Rakesh Sangrai: While startups and academic labs globally are driving next-gen innovations, India is still maturing in this space. We are on several platforms proposing academia-industry collaboration.