The Government of India has announced a new scheme to provide financial assistance to startups and individuals engaged in technical textiles. The scheme, called GREAT (Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles), will provide grants of up to Rs 50 lakh for up to 18 months.
“The Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles - Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT) providing grant-in-aid of up to Rs 50 lakh for up to a period of 18 months has been approved,” Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary - Textiles, said in a press conference on August 29 in New Delhi.
However, incorporation date of the startup must be less than 5 years, he said.
The scheme is aimed at promoting innovation in the niche technical textiles segment, which has the potential to create high-value jobs and boost exports. The GREAT scheme will focus on supporting individuals and companies translate prototypes into technologies and products, including commercialisation.
Comprehensive support
"We are going to support up to Rs 50 lakh in the form of grant-in-aid without any royalties or equity. Only minimum 10 per cent contribution has to be made by the incubatee. All of this is being done by incubators in IITS, NITs, Textiles Research Associations, and Centres of Excellence, among others," Saxena said.
The official said that an online portal will be developed to invite applications within 10-15 days. The scheme will be commensurate with the National Technical Textiles Mission. "We are going to support 100-150 startups," he said.
Further, to incentivise the incubators, the ministry will additionally provide 10 per cent of total grant-in-aid to incubators.
To strengthen authenticity and commitment towards the project, Saxena said a minimum investment of 10 per cent of the funding from the incubatee in two equal installments is mandated.
The grant will be garnered to areas in technical textiles including agro-textiles, building textiles, geo textiles, home textiles, medical textiles, mobile textiles, packaging textiles, protective textiles and sports textiles.
The startup guidelines (GREAT) is aimed at providing the much needed impetus for the development of technical textiles startup ecosystem in India, especially in niche sub-segments such as bio-degradable and sustainable textiles, high-performance and specialty fibres, smart textiles, among others.
As per the guidelines, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will have to be signed between the selected startups and the incubator.
The textiles ministry has also given nod to 26 institutes for upgrading their laboratory infrastructure and training of trainers in the application areas of technical textiles including nod.
Applications of 26 institutions for development and introduction of technical textile courses/ papers in the key departments/specializations as well as introducing new degree programme in technical textiles has also been approved.
A total of Rs 151.02 crore was approved wherein 15 applications valuing Rs 105.55 Crores are from Public Institutes and 11 applications valuing Rs 45.47 Crores are from Private Institutes.
Institutes which will be funded under the scheme include IIT Delhi, NIT Jalandhar, NIT Durgapur, NIT Karnataka, NIFT Mumbai, ICT Mumbai, Anna University, PSG College of Technology, Amity University, among others.
Two new QCOs on 28 products soon
On the quality and regulation aspect of technical textiles, the ministry has already notified two QCOs for 31 technical textiles products including 19 geotextiles and 12 protective textiles, which will come in-effect from October 7, 2023 onwards.
Besides, QCOs for 28 products including 22 agrotextiles and six medical textiles are also in the final stages of issuance and likely to be issued in September 2023, Saxena said.
Furthermore, additional 28 items are also considered for QCOs including Building textiles, Industrial textiles, Ropes & Cordages, among others.
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