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Testing/​Standards

FICCI urges formulation of standards in technical textiles

FICCI has urged its Ministry of Textiles and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) to expedite the formulation of standards in technical textiles for health, safety and environment reasons. Speaking at the second National Seminar on Standards in Technical Textiles, Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, FICCI Committee on Textiles and Technical Textiles, said that there has been progress in the formulation of standards in the last two to three years, but there is a need to focus more on areas such as health, hygiene and safety, which would encourage the use of technical textiles in the country and also help in exports. According to the Compendium on Standards in Technical Textiles released at the seminar, the domestic market of technical textiles is expected to reach Rs 1.58 lac crore by 2016-2017 with an estimated annual growth of 20%.

28th February 2014

Innovation in Textiles
 |  Mumbai

Medical/Hygiene, Transport/​Aerospace, Construction, Civil Engineering, Industrial

FICCI has urged its Ministry of Textiles and BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) to expedite the formulation of standards in technical textiles for health, safety and environment reasons.

Speaking at the second National Seminar on Standards in Technical Textiles, Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, FICCI Committee on Textiles and Technical Textiles, said that there has been progress in the formulation of standards in the last two to three years, but there is a need to focus more on areas such as health, hygiene and safety, which would encourage the use of technical textiles in the country and also help in exports.

According to the Compendium on Standards in Technical Textiles released at the seminar, the domestic market of technical textiles is expected to reach Rs 1.58 lac crore by 2016-2017 with an estimated annual growth of 20%.

Technical textiles

Technical textiles are materials and products used primarily for their technical performance and functional properties (like fire retardant textiles, bullet proof jacket, anti-microbial fabric and more). These represent a multidisciplinary field with numerous end-use applications.

The Compendium noted that there has been progress in terms of formulation and notification of standards for technical textiles since the last Seminar in 2011. Since then, twenty one standards have been printed and sent for notification and for another nine drafts have been finalised and are under printing. Similarly, there are over three dozen draft standards which are in various stages of finalisation.

Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said that there should be a regime of mandatory usage of some of the technical textile items in areas like flood control, roads and construction. He also suggested that a web based mechanism could be designed with the help of BIS, which would evaluate faster submission of suggestions related to standards.

Contributing to safety

FICCI has also been seeking mandatory usage of technical textiles in creating areas like use of fire retardant textiles (curtains, drapes and other) in public places in the interest of safety and health of the public at large. Mandatory use of fire retardant textiles in public places like multiplexes, Malls and public buildings will go a long way in increasing safety of the public at large, the FICCI believes.

About 6% of accidental deaths in India are due to fire related incidents as per the report of Ministry of Home Affairs and around 23,000 people died due to fire accidents in 2012.

Similarly, mandatory usage of some medical textile and hygiene related technical textiles are expected to contribute immensely to the health and hygiene in hospitals.

www.ficci.com

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