India to Produce Carbon Fibre by 2025-26: Giriraj Singh

New Delhi, Sep 6 (PTI) Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh on Friday expressed confidence that the niche carbon fibre -- which is used in aerospace, civil engineering and defence as an alternative to metal -- will be produced by India in 2025-26.

Currently, India does not produce any carbon fibre and relies completely on imports from countries such as the US, France, Japan and Germany.

The European Union's proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a tax on embedded carbon imports, is expected to kick in from 2026.

"The coming days belong to Technical textiles in every sector... I am fully confident that in 2025-26 the niche carbon fibre product will also be with India," Singh told reporters here.

The minister asserted that after the Narendra Modi-led government came to power, it has "balanced imports" in the hygiene sector.

"Earlier we used to import diapers. Thanks to PM Modi for bringing production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme which has created excitement in the industry," Singh said.

Earlier while addressing a technical textiles event organised by Ficci, the minister stated that the government is fully-dedicated in the development of the technical textiles industry of India and has taken various steps such as the launch of National Technical Textiles Mission, PLI Scheme for MMF Fabric, MMF Apparel and Technical Textiles, etc.

Highlighting the key initiatives taken under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) Singh stated that 156 research projects have been sanctioned including development of Carbon fibres and support to startups under different areas of technical textiles, etc.

He specifically highlighted the innovation carried out by North India Textile Research Association (NITRA) on the development of fibres from Milkweed which can be used in the cold-weather applications.

Talking on the export targets for technical textiles, Singh mentioned that he is confident of crossing the USD 10 billion target set for 2030.

He emphasized on the potential of Meditech, especially hygiene products as a major contributor in achieving this target.

The minister added that Agrotech will be another important sector in terms of generating employment and opening avenues for usage in daily life of the general public.

He displayed confidence in the ability of the local industry, government and stakeholders in the development of High Performance Fibres that have huge applications in different fields including aerospace, automobile, construction, etc.