At least 30 technical textiles such as protective clothing worn by firefighters and industrial workers exposed to heat, bullet resistant jackets, and pouches for ammunition and grenades, are likely to come under the government's quality scanner.
The textiles ministry is working on quality standards for geotextiles and protective fabrics to check cheap and substandard imports.
"Work is going on to issue quality control orders (QCOs) for these two sets of technical textiles to bring them under mandatory BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification. The aim is to ensure human safety and optimal quality of these products," said an official, who did not wish to be identified.
Geotextiles are used for filtration, drainage, pavement structures, hard armour systems and soil retaining structures.
These QCOs are being developed to ensure availability of quality products to consumers, improve the quality standards of products manufactured under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and also check cheap imports that can endanger consumer health.
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"Since India is becoming part of the global value chain due to its various foreign trade agreements, there is a need to build global standards and also look at the benefits of possible alignment of national and International standards," said a textile industry representative, who did not wish to be identified.
India has already rolled out a ₹10,683 crore production-linked incentive scheme for textiles and apparel to enable the industry to achieve size and scale and become competitive.
The government is also keen to reduce imports and encourage creation of domestic capacity in the technical textiles segment.
The BIS is working to develop QCOs for 107 technical textiles, including agrotextiles, medical textiles, protective textiles and geotextiles, to address the health and safety concerns around influx of cheaper and sub-standard textile imports.
