Government to provide Rs 50 lakh grant for technical textiles startups under GREAT scheme

New Delhi: The government will provide a grant-in-aid of up to Rs 50 lakh for startups and individuals to promote innovation in the niche technical textiles segment.

The Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles under 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, informed Rajeev Saxena, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles.

The guidelines focus on supporting individuals and companies to translate prototypes to technologies & products, including commercialization.

“We are going to support up to Rs 50 lakh in the form of grant-in-aid without any royalties or equity. Only a minimum of 10 per cent contribution has to be made by the incubate. All of this is being done by incubators like IITs, NITs, Textiles Research Associations, and Centre’s of Excellence, among others,” Saxena said.

An online portal will be developed to invite applications within 10-15 days in sync with the National Technical Textiles Mission. and will support 100-150 startups.
The textile ministry will additionally provide 10 percent of total grant-in-aid to incubators.

The startup guidelines (GREAT) are aimed at providing the much-needed impetus for the development of the technical textiles startup ecosystem especially in niche sub-segments such as bio-degradable and sustainable textiles, high-performance and specialty fibres, and smart textiles, among others.

As per the guidelines, an MoU will have to be signed between the selected startups and the incubator.

The textiles ministry has also given a nod to 26 institutes for upgrading their laboratory infrastructure and training of trainers in the application areas of technical textiles.

Applications from 26 institutions for the development and introduction of technical textile courses/ papers in the key specializations as well as introducing new degree programs in technical textiles have also been approved. These include IIT Delhi, NIT Jalandhar, NIT Durgapur, NIT Karnataka, NIFT Mumbai, ICT Mumbai, Anna University, PSG College of Technology and Amity University, among others.