Coimbatore, August 23: Asking Textile industries to venture into manufacture of ‘technical textiles’, Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran today said such textiles had huge potential and demand for it was growing.
The country produced only four per cent of technical textiles while the remaining was being imported to meet the domestic requirements, he said, inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) at the Sitra auditorium here.
The demand for technical textiles had been growing, he said and called upon textile industry owners to take up manufacture of technical textiles which could also be exported to other countries.
Referring to the export of cotton in a big way, he said the cotton grown here could be used for producing a wide range of value added textile goods.
I have asked the National Textile Corporation also to explore possibility of establishing a textile mill in Coimbatore for manufacture of technical textiles, he said.
Pointing out the difficulties encountered by the mill owners of this region in sourcing cotton from North India and its cascading effect on production cost, Maran said he had asked the Cotton Corporation of India to set up the corporations warehouses in Coimbatore also. This would bring down the transport costs incurred by the spinning mills.
Expressing concern over the pollution problem that has been haunting the textile industry for years,he said government has been working on various plans to keep the problem under control.
—Agencies