Dr Ramkumar Seshadri did pioneering research on how India could achieve double-digit growth rate in technical textiles, based on World Bank gross domestic product growth data. An assistant professor at Nonwoven and Advanced Materials Laboratory at the Institute of Environmental and Human Health, Texas Tech University, he was assisted by Appachi Arunachalam. Dr Ramkumar is also the organiser of the ATNT 2008 conference to he held at Coimbatore from July 14-16. In a chat with Commodity Market, he explains the significance of tech textiles for India.

What made you take up the potential of India's technical textile industry for the study considering the fact that it is a nascent industry?
• Non-wovens and technical textiles sectors are part of the textile industry at large. Even in developed economies, these sectors are growing at a rate of 7-8%. As the products of these sectors are life improving and enhancing, with the increase in disposable incomes, there is a great opportunity for the sectors to grow. Therefore, with India's GDP expected to grow in double-digits, it is hoped that India's non-woven & technical textiles industry will grow. Therefore, there was a need to study the effect of GDP growth on the development of India's technical textiles industry.

More importantly, commodity Indian textile sector which was dependent on export market was not doing well in 2007. This prompted interest and need to promote the development of non-wovens and technical textiles sector in India. With the consumer awareness growing slowly, non-woven products find applications in wipes, automobiles, etc. Therefore, there is a good domestic market and India will not be dependent only on foreign market, which is a positive aspect of non-woven and technical textiles.

Right timing, the need to have value-addition to textile industry and the growth opportunities in non-wovens and technical textile industry in India prompted me to initiate a study on the opportunities of non-wovens and technical textiles in India. This coincided with my ongoing efforts for past four years to promote India as a growth platform to the international community through my annual, 'Advances in Textiles, Non-wovens & Technical Textiles-ATNT Conference', held in Coimbatore.

How can be technical textiles be defined? And what all comes under its purview?
• In general, non-commodity textiles that have value-added applications can be defined as technical textiles. Technical textiles can be: A) durable ones such as geotextiles, building products and 2) disposables such as hygiene products, diapers, wipes, etc. Other products include fibre composites, protective textiles, etc.

What factors do you think will help India become a textile tech major?
• India is in a bright situation compared to China when it started growing in technical textiles. We are in better situation to get technologies from West as well as East. And, more importantly India can learn from the mistakes of the West and East. For India to go on high gear, there needs to be active collaboration among all stake holders: 1) Government; 2) Industry and 3) Academia/research infrastructure. If all stakeholders work together with mission linked research and policy initiatives, it will be a win-win situation. Initiative by parties concerned in isolation will not be helpful. Collaboration among all stake-holders will enable exponential growth in India.

Could you throw some light on major players in the tech textiles in India?
• The major players in India are: Techfab India (Geogrids/geotextiles), Supreme Nonwovens: Needle-punched non-woven products, SRF Ltd, Industrial yarns, Ginni Filaments: Wipe products and Unimin India Ltd: Early pioneers in spun-bonded products in India.

What all issues are on the agenda for ATNT 2008?
• Texas Tech University will organize the fifth annual Advances in Textiles, Machinery Non-woven and Technical Textiles ATNT 2008 conference, from July 14-16 in Coimbatore. The conference fosters relationships between the textile industry of developed economies and India. India has been having good academic/theoretical knowledge on non-wovens and technical textiles due to research efforts in academic institutions such as IIT-Delhi and Research Associations such as BTRA and SASMIRA for some time.

However, greater awareness on these sectors was not widely prevalent in the textile industry per se. More importantly, India lacked practical knowledge, marketing know-how and machinery knowledge. In 2004, I was thinking of creating an international platform in South India where all interested parties can interact with international players. This is how ATNT started. Subsequently, world bodies such as USA-based Association of the Non-woven Fabrics Industry and AATCC started seeing the potential of India and started supporting the event.

An important aspect of this year will be this ATNT will be the first event where USA-based Industrial Fabrics Association International will be participating. The main agenda for ATNT is to provide an international platform where international players in technical textiles field, policy makers, industry and research institutions can participate to build technical textiles industrial base in India. Many global companies will attend ATNT 2008, which is already creating opportunities for joint ventures. •

This interview published in COMMODITY MARKET, India’s No 1 news magazine on commodities.