The textile ministry has received applications from as many as 67 companies to avail benefits of the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibres and technical textile sectors, a top government official said on Saturday. The PLI scheme for textiles covers 40 man-made fibre (MMF) garment items, 14 MMF fabric goods and 10 technical textile products.

The government had approved the PLI scheme worth Rs 10,683 crore for the sector with an aim to boost domestic manufacturing, create jobs and promote exports.

“We have taken a number of steps to promote growth of the technical textile sector. There has been a very good response for the PLI scheme.

“As many as 67 companies have made applications for being a part of the PLI for MMF and technical textiles and against our expectations of over Rs 19,000 crore investments, these companies have shown that they would be investing like Rs 22,000-23,000 crore in the MMF and technical textiles,” Textiles Secretary U B Singh said at a CII event.

The technical textiles (techtex) segment is a sunrise sector and holds huge potential for growth, he said.

It is used in different areas such as construction, road, railways, healthcare, automobile, and agriculture. The market size of the sector in India is about USD 20 billion. The global market size is about USD 260 billion.

Faster development of infrastructure, increasing demand for passenger cars, healthcare, sports and awareness about personal hygiene are some of the reasons for healthy growth of the sector, he added.

The increasing potential needs to be tapped through creation of awareness, removal of policy bottlenecks and developing more standards.

Principal Scientific Advisor to the Centre K Vijay Raghavan emphasised on the need for increasing R&D investments in the segment.

Speaking at the conference, Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh said announcements like PLI scheme, PM-MITRA, and National Technical Textiles Mission would help in promoting growth of the sector.

“Huge scope is there to tap the global market in the sector,” she said.