Centre to provide upto Rs 50 lakh to innovators in technical textiles

New Delhi [India], August 29 : The Ministry of Textiles has decided to provide grant-in-aid of upto Rs 50 lakhs for up to a period of 18 months to aspiring innovators in technical textiles space, informed Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary Textiles during a press conference held here on Tuesday.
Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products used primarily for their technical performance in various high-end industries.
The Ministry of Textiles has approved the Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles - Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT).
The GREAT Guidelines provide thrust in technical textiles’ application areas including agro-textiles, building textiles, geo-textiles, home textiles, medical textiles, mobile textiles, packaging- textiles, protective textiles, sports textiles, among others.
To incentivize the incubators, the Ministry will additionally provide 10 per cent of the total grant-in-aid.
The ministry also gave the nod to 26 institutes for upgrading their laboratory infrastructure and training trainers in the application areas of technical textiles.
“Ministry has approved the applications of 26 institutions for development and introduction of technical textile courses/ papers in the key departments/specializations as well as introducing new degree programme in technical textiles,” the ministry said in a release.
A total value of Rs 151.02 crore was approved wherein 15 applications valuing Rs 105.55 crore are from public institutes and 11 applications valuing Rs 45.47 crore are from private institutes.
Some of the premier institutes to be funded under the scheme include IIT Delhi, NIT Jalandhar, NIT Durgapur, NIT Karnataka, NIFT Mumbai, ICT Mumbai, Anna University, PSG College of Technology, and Amity University, the ministry said.