I am delighted to participate in the inauguration of Golden Jubilee of the South India Textile Research Association popularly known as SITRA. During the last five decades the membership of SITRA has increased membership including textile institutions of foreign countries such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand and Iran. I congratulate the SITRA community both present and past who have built a robust institutional framework for textile research during the last five decades. I have observed that Coimbatore with its core competence in textiles has always maintained the leadership in textile industry inspite of recession in the industry at times. Also Coimbatore is well known for textile machinery production and Tirupur has become world famous for apparel manufacture. Members of SITRA have definitely made important contribution in realizing this status. My greetings to all the members of SITRA community on this occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebrations, textile business leaders, textile technologists and distinguished guests participating in this function.

Performance analysis of textile mills

I was studying the applied research activity of SITRA during the last five decades. Based on the productivity service, the growth of productivity has gone up considerably in the last five decades. This is an important development. Also, the ranking of mills based on the productivity performance report becomes an important tool for improving the productivity of the particular mill. This will definitely enable to make the mills perform and achieve better results in the subsequent years. Based on the experience of increasing the productivity of powered textile mills, I would suggest that the SITRA to study the productivity problems of handloom sector and provide technological inputs for improving the productivity so that our handloom craftsmen and weavers working in rural sector can benefit from this rich experience.

Textiles

I was studying handloom and powerloom sector of Tamilnadu. It employs over 12 lakhs weavers in 1250 cooperative societies. 50% of the cooperatives are profitable and the rest of them are in loss. To make all the cooperatives profitable and enhance the per capita income of the weavers, there is an urgent need for providing technological intervention, design inputs, creating powerlooms, training the weavers to adopt the new technology and tie-up with the fashion design institutions. SITRA can take up a lead in this matter and provide the design inputs, technological interventions needed for revitalizing this sector in partnership with banks and textile industry leaders, which will benefit large number of weavers in the state. Simultaneously this can also enable tripling the revenue generation from this sector from the existing Rs. 600 crores to Rs. 1800 crores within the next 3 years.

Contribution to 'one village - one product' programme

In this connection, I would like to share with you the contribution of JETRO in developing �one village � one product � concept being implemented in Tamil Nadu. JETRO team has worked with Periyar PURA in Vallam, Thanjavur District. The villagers of 65 villages have offered 123 products based on their core competence. All the products are handloom woven textile products for meeting the needs of Japanese market. In the first phase, the combined team of specialists from JETRO and Periyar Maniammai Engineering College for Women have selected 40 out of 123 products and provided technical expertise for producing the product which can be acceptable to the international community. Based on this training and advice, the villagers have produced the sample of 40 products and presented in an exhibition conducted in Delhi on the 15th February 2007. Initial response to the products has been very good and the visitors to the exhibition were very keen to buy the products. The Japanese team appreciated the work done by Periyar PURA village community. In the next phase, these 40 products will be displayed in an exhibition in Tokyo. You can see the economic value of such a mission which can promote large scale export of Indian Handloom Textile Product. I would suggest the members of SITRA to study this project and provide technical inputs to the Periyar PURA team and similar team in the State to make the products extremely competitive in the international market. Since, SITRA have members from other countries, this exercise can be extended to market demands in the various partner countries for mutual benefit.

Development of Machinery and Instruments

During the last fifty years, SITRA has developed nearly 25 machinery and instruments related to spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, processing of jute, abrasion testing, measurement of yarn friction, process and pollution monitoring and overall monitoring of production and machine data management. These machinery and instruments have been licensed to various manufacturers in Coimbatore and Chennai for quantity production and sale to the members of textile industry. In spite of the development taking place over the last five decades, I understand that textile machinery from China are cheaper and high-end machinery are cheaper from Korea. This message has to taken into account by the members of SITRA so that they can facilitate production of textile machinery for world market in the coming decade.

When I was chairman, TIFAC we had a programme to enable Indian Industry to do innovative products for Textile Machinery under Vision 2020 projects. Two Coimbatore companies Laximi and Vijayalaxmi Industries did excellent work, some of it have found export markets too. We need to do many more of such projects with industry leading the initiative and organization like SITRA, TIFAC and others bringing in knowledge networks.

Patents

During the last fifty years SITRA has filed over 59 patents. There is a need for enhancing the number of patents generated by Indian Textile specialists. Larger the number of patents generated, we may be able to have cutting edge machines and equipments for the textile sector. For enlarging the thinking process needed for generation of patents, SITRA can have collaboration and partnership with other textile research associations of the country such as Ahmedabad, Mumbai and North India Textile Research Associations. This collaboration will lead to knowledge sharing among the research associations and enable augmentation of quality manpower needed for in-depth research. It may also be desirable to identify a challenging problem of the Indian Textile Industries and work as a partner in national R & D mission. This will definitely enhance the capability for technological knowledge generation pertaining to textile industry in the face of severe competition faced by the industry.

Nano-science in Textiles

Dear friends, You have probably heard about nano materials and nano fibres being used in sun screen lotions, quick-drying paints, car bumpers or even in your pants. There are many new applications which may come about very soon. A Canadian firm has engineered silver particles into infection-fighting bandages for burn victims. The US-based Nano-Tex makes cotton pants that repel water. Companies are talking about engineering diapers that will never smell. Nano-materials are already being used, in a small way, in computers, stain-resistant fabrics, sports equipment and medical diagnostic tests. Scientists hope to use nano-materials to help clean up polluted sites. The use nano-materials in such products will become greater and greater in the coming years. I would suggest SITRA to undertake research in this area in partnership with academic institutions like Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where nano-science and technology research is progressing. This type of forward looking research is required for making the Indian Textile Industry competitive in the international market.

Conclusion

For promoting quality research in the upcoming textile area, we need to evolve a new type of research culture. The results of the research will provide disruptive technologies, which is vital for providing non-linear growth to this sector. For all these missions, what we need is a creative leadership. Who is the creative leader? Creative leadership means exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect. I am sure SITRA will develop large number of creative leaders for promoting research and ensuring the sustainable growth of the textile industry during the next two decades.

With these words, let me now inaugurate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the South India Textile Research Association. My greetings and best wishes to all the members of SITRA for success in their research missions for the growth of textile industry.

May God bless you.

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