India's Ministry of Textiles has granted Rs 24.5 crore (US$5.1 million) to the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) to set up a research centre to develop sports related textile technologies.

According to a recent report in the Economic Times, The National Centre of Excellence (NCE) in Sportech will run with industrial partners, including Reliance Industries Ltd, Kemrock Industries (Vadodara) and Kusumgar Associates (Mumbai).

JCT Industries (Ludhiana), which manufactures sportswear for different brands, is also said to have s shown interest in the NCE. As part of the plan a textiles committee will assist ICT in organising seminars all over the country and collecting samples of various materials from different areas for R&D.

"Textile Association has agreed to organise seminars and conferences with ICT in 27 different units in various parts of the country. Texan Laboratory has also shown interest in assisting the NCE with standardisation of various testing processes," Vice-chancellor and Director of ICT Y D Yadav said.

The textile chemistry section of ICT was founded in 1933, along with the Chemical Engineering section, by Vithal Chandavarkar, former Vice Chancellor of University of Mumbai. It is now said to have grown into a fully fledged Department of Fibres and Textiles Processing Technology.

"This is the first time the ministry has given grants to ICT, despite its stellar performance over the years," Yadav said.

He added that the very eminent faculty are at the forefront in textile related research and the NCE will rejuvenate this field.

Source: The Economic Times