The Tamil Nadu government is aiming at an investment of ₹1,000 crore in technical textiles by 2030, said T.N. Venkatesh, Principal Secretary, Department of Handlooms, Textiles, Khadi, and Handicrafts, on Thursday (June 25).

Speaking at the inauguration of a conference on technical textiles organised by the Department in Coimbatore, he said the aim was to encourage investments by the Micro, Small and Medium-scale (MSME) sector in the segment of functional textiles. The State would focus on textiles used in automobile, healthcare, sports, agriculture and construction sectors. Industrial establishments exchanged Memoranda of Understanding with the government on Thursday to bring in ₹123 crore in investment. These plants were expected to be commissioned by the end of this year.

At least five new technical textile industrial units would come up in the four major regions of the State in three years. The State would soon have a centre of excellence for athleisure (sports related) products, he added.

Annual textile exports from Tamil Nadu currently stands at $8 billion and the Centre had fixed a target of $21 billion, he added.

Minister for Handlooms, Textiles, and Khadi M. Vijay Balaji said the Department would take measures to bring investments and generate jobs in the textile sector. The State was a leader in textiles and had lost ground to countries such as Bangladesh. The sector would be strengthened and revived in the State. “We will strive to make the technical textile sector in Tamil Nadu a model for the entire world,” he added.

Coimbatore District Collector Pavankumar G. Giriyappanavar said the contribution of the textile industry to the district’s economy was significant and technical textiles was a growing segment.

Chairperson of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) Durai Palanisamy said the State should convert the interest subvention that it was offering for technical textile investments into 15% capital subsidy. “While cotton is our strength, manmade fibre will give growth,” he said and urged the government to also come up with measures to strengthen the textile processing sector.

According to K.S. Sundararaman, chairperson of the SIMA Cotton Development and Research Association, the asset/turnover ratio is the highest for technical textiles in the textile and apparel sector. Hence, the industry should make use of the government schemes and the market opportunities and venture into this segment.