Context: Recently, Ministry of Textiles cleared 20 strategic research projects in the areas of Specialty fibers and Geotextiles under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM)

• NTTM was approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

Technical Textiles

• These are textiles materials and products manufactured for technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic characteristics.
• The products are divided into 12 broad categories: Agrotech, Buildtech, Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Protech, Sportstech, Oekotech, Packtech.
• India shares nearly 6% of world market size of 250 billion USD.
• However, the annual average growth of the segment is 12%, as compared to 4% world average growth.
• Penetration level of technical textiles is low in India at 5-10%, against 30-70% in advanced countries.

About National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM)

• Launched in: 2020
• Aim: To make India a leader of technical textiles around the world.
• Implementation period: 2020-21 to 2023-24
• An amount of Rs 1480 crore has been finalized by the Government for this mission. 

Objectives

• To get India at the highest position in Technical Textiles globally.
• To improve the penetration level of the technical textiles in India.
• The Mission is focused on the usage of textiles in different flagship missions, various programmes of the country.

Components of NTTM
Research, Innovation and Development

• It comprises an amount of Rs. 100 crores.
• It has fundamental research at the fiber level which will aim at path-breaking products.
• It has application-based research in Agro-textiles, geotextiles, etc.

Promotion and Market Development

• A growth rate of around 15-20% per annum has targeted to take the level of the domestic market.
• The level of the market has raised to 40-50 billion USD.

Export Promotion

• The current value of the export is around Rs 14000 crore per annum.
• The mission focuses to increase the export value by Rs 20000 crore by the year 2021-22.

Education, Training and Skill Development

• In order to meet the fast-growing technical textiles and challenges, education has promoted.
• Highly skilled labour has created to meet the requirements of this mission.

Benefits of NTTM

• The usage of textiles in dairy, Swachh Bharat Mission, agriculture, etc., will improve the costs of the economy.
• It will enhance soil and water conservation.
• This mission will improve agricultural productivity.
• Due to increased agricultural productivity, farmers’ income for every acre of land will increase.
• It promotes manufacturing and export activities in the country.
• The mission plans to promote start-ups and ventures.