India's technical textiles industry is expected to grow to a value of Rs 1,58,000 crore by 2017, a senior government official said at the opening of Techtextil India 2011 in Mumbai, Moneycontrol reports.

"The technical textiles industry is forecast to grow at Rs 1,58,000 crore by 2016-17, with a projected growth of 20%. The industry has grown to Rs 63,000 crore in 2011-12 from Rs 41,000 crore in 2010-11, which is 11% growth per annum," Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, AB Joshi said, after inaugurating the third edition of the show today.

Joshi said the most important sectors within the technical textiles industry for India were Medical (Medtech), Geo-Textiles (Geotech), Protective Textiles (Protech) and Agricultural Textiles (Agrotech).

In its 12th Five Year plan, India's government has allocated funds to develop Centres of Excellence (COEs) for the targeted technical textiles sectors. COEs have recently been established for nonwovens and medical textiles in Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur and Maharashtra; for the  sports sector in Mumbai; for composites in Ahmedabad and Gujarat; and  for industrial textiles in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Joshi said.

The three-day exhibition and its concurrent two-day symposium aims to provide comprehensive market intelligence, which will help drive the future of India's technical textiles market.

The show comprises of four international country pavilions (Germany, France, Belgium and China)  with 132 exhibitors from 14 countries - Belgium, China, France, Germany, Holland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Turkey, USA, Austria and Indonesia are participating in the exhibition.

Michael Jänecke, Brand Manager-Techtextil, Messe Frankfurt GmbH, in his welcome note, thanked the Union Government and extended support towards Techtextil India 2011.

He said that globally, India's presence as a global player in the textiles industry has garnered positive feedback as the country is fast gaining respect and influence of many countries, worldwide.

Source: Moneycontrol