The recent two day elementary nonwoven training programme organized by INDA, the association of the nonwoven fabrics industry and coordinated by Tecnitex Nonwovens was held on 6-7 July at the Orchid Hotel, Mumbai, India. This was INDA’s 25th awareness workshop where industrialists expressed that the growing Indian technical textiles sector that includes nonwovens to a great extent needed value addition, product diversification and marketing support.

Participants from leading companies, such as Kimberly Clark, Welspun, Johnson and Johnson, attended the workshop and participated in interesting discussions to spearhead the growth of the industry.

Currently, the spunbond nonwoven sector is concentrated on packtech and is not performing well in India. According to the company’s source, a few years back, the industrialized state of Gujarat had over 40 spunbond manufacturers.

The sector is dominated by Chinese machines and is focused on developing 60-80 GSM fabrics catering to the packaging sector. With fierce competition, the need for new products and new market, some spunbond manufacturers have shut down.

There is an urgent need for product know-how and help with marketing support. The industry needs to convert the sector so it can develop products that meet the demands of consumers. Indian government should focus of custom duty issues to support manufacturing value-added goods domestically. Current duty structure is not favourable for the domestic converting of technical textile products.

The US based INDA and Brussels based EDANA have conducted many training programmes in India, due to which the basic knowledge of nonwovens and a few technical textiles products is currently available in India.