According to a press release from The Regional Office of the Textile Commissioner, Kiran Soni Gupta, the In-Situ Upgradation Scheme for Plain Power Looms was launched in Somanur cluster and so far, 107 units (totally 800 power looms) had benefited and obtained Rs. 87.28 lakh subsidy under the scheme. The units get Rs. 15,000 maximum subsidy to upgrade each power loom.

They have requested that the scheme should be expanded pan India and should be available to all power loom units, irrespective of the number of looms.

The In-Situ Upgradation Scheme for Plain Power Looms has been approved for Erode and Salem power loom clusters too, to enable weavers modernise the plain power looms.

The scheme helps even a small-scale weaver use technology and produce better products. It is now available for units that had maximum eight looms each and only in select power loom clusters.

It helps the weavers go in for other benefits available for power looms. For instance, there were 10 proposals from Coimbatore to set up yarn banks and two had been approved. The weavers could be organized as a group and a company could be formed to make use of assistance available from the Small Industries’ Development Bank of India.

There were 23 lakh power looms in the country and just about 1.75 lakh were modernized. China had machinery manufacturing facilities and capacity to produce large volume of textile products. Almost 95 percent of textile machinery was imported in India. This was an area of opportunity for entrepreneurs.

With China looking at high value products, and countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia and Turkey emerging as significant players in the textile and clothing sector, the units in South East Asian countries should collaborate and tap the opportunities.

At a function held in Coimbatore on Monday, Textile Commissioner Kiran Soni Gupta distributed Rs. 64.16 lakh to owners of 76 power loom units in Somanur and as many as 552 power looms had been upgraded.

Earlier, participating at the inaugural of a new building for the Centre of Excellence for Technical Textiles, the Textile Commissioner had said that the Ministry of Textiles has established eight centres of excellence for 12 segments of technical textiles at a total cost of Rs. 200 crore. There were several speciality fibres that were important for technical textiles and research was needed on these. Young entrepreneurs had opportunities in these segments as the prototypes created could be developed into products for various applications. There is great future for technical textile in the textile industry.

D. Krishnamurthy, chairman of South India Textile Research Association, said that the new building for the Centre of Excellence at the association premises for medical textiles was constructed at a total cost of Rs. 6.5 crore and had 60,000 sq.ft built up area. The association had contributed the entire fund for the building.

According to Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam there were several possibilities for research in the medical sector.

S. Ramalingam, principal at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, is of the view that the centre should focus its research and development programs on preventive technology which is now more focussed on tertiary care technology.