The north Indian state of Bihar has announced a new textile and leather policy, aimed at promoting industrialisation, as the state has ample availability of skilled labour. To attract investors, the policy will provide 15 per cent subsidy on investment in plant and machinery. The state government has also assured timely disbursement of subsidies. As per the Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy (Textile & leather policy), released by the state chief minister Nitish Kumar today, new textile units set up under certain conditions will be entitled for capital investment subsidy of 15 per cent of expenditure on plant and machinery. The subsidy, with a cap of ₹10 crore, will be disbursed in five years after the commencement of production. Further, all textile and leather units will get 100 per cent reimbursement of SGST for 5 years. The new units set up under the latest policy will be eligible for freight subsidy, employment subsidy, power subsidy, patent subsidy, skill development subsidy, and exemption from stamp duty, registration fee and land conversion fee. The policy categorises the entire textile and leather value chain into two categories. Category A covers weaving, knitting, apparel, accessories, hosiery, leather, leather garment, leather footwear, etc, while category B comprises ginning, spinning, textile processing (printing), man-made fibre, synthetic fibre, polyester, acrylic, viscose, rayon, technical textile, and leather processing (tanning, finishing) units. Sanjay K Jain, managing director of TT Limited, who attended the event, told Fibre2Fashion, “The most important thing is an assurance from the government to disburse subsidy on time. Overall, the policy is very good.” TT Limited has announced that it will set up its new unit in Bihar under the latest state policy.
Source: Fibre 2 Fashion
Gems and jewellery, engineering, petroleum products, and electronic goods' exports increased by 84.3 per cent, 25.7 per cent, 20.4 per cent and 73.5 per cent, respectively Led by engineering goods, gems and jewellery, and petroleum products, India's exports rose 24.18% year-on-year to $9.4 billion in the first week of June, officials said on Wednesday. Imports during June 1-7 were $16 billion, 76.9% higher than the year-ago period, leaving a trade deficit of $6.6 billion, they said. "Around 80% of export growth came from non-petroleum products while 80% of import growth came from natural resources such as petroleum, coal and gold," said an official. Outbound shipments were $7.56 billion in the first week of June 2021. India's goods exports had grown 15.46% on year to $37.29 billion in May. During June 1-7, outbound shipments of gems and jewellery, engineering goods, petroleum products, and electronic goods grew 84.3%, 25.7%, 20.4% and 73.5%, respectively. However, plastic and linoleum exports decreased 27.3% on year. Major import goods that witnessed growth include petroleum, crude, coal, coke and briquettes, gold and chemicals. Gold imports rose 391.9% in the first week of June while those of petroleum and coal were up 207% and 253.8%, respectively.
Source: Economic Times
The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi The government on Wednesday approved a proposal for signing a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on cooperation in the field of industries and advanced technologies. The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An official statement said the MoU envisages cooperation on a mutually beneficial basis in areas including strengthening the supply chain resilience of industries, renewable and energy efficiency, health and life sciences, space systems, artificial intelligence, standardisation, metrology, conformity assessment, accreditation, and halal certification. The MoU aims at strengthening and developing industries in both nations through investments, technology transfer and the deployment of key technologies in industries, it said. The implementation of the MoU, it said, may lead to increase in research and innovation in all areas of mutual cooperation. India-UAE bilateral trade, valued at USD 180 million per annum in the 1970s, has increased to USD 60 billion at present, making the UAE India's third-largest trading partner after China and the US. The UAE is the eighth largest investor in India with an estimated investment of USD 18 billion. Indian investments in the UAE are estimated at around USD 85 billion (Rs 6.48 lakh crore). Both the countries have implemented a comprehensive trade agreement with an aim to increase bilateral trade from USD 60 billion to USD 100 billion in the next five years.
Source: Business Standard
E-way bills stood at 73.62 million in May 2022, the third highest since the system was rolled out in 2018 and up 84% on year, partly because of a very low base. E-way bills generated by businesses for inter-state commerce in May were marginally down from April, but significantly higher than the year-ago month, suggesting that June GST collections will likely be around Rs 1.35 trillion, sources said. E-way bills stood at 73.62 million in May 2022, the third highest since the system was rolled out in 2018 and up 84% on year, partly because of a very low base. However, on a month-on-month basis, e-way bills in May were 2% lower than the previous month. Collections had hit an all-time high of Rs 1.68 trillion in April (March transactions), broadly reflecting efficient plugging of tax evasion, a sustained shift of business to the formal sector of the economy and year-end bunching of tax payments by firms. Monthly gross GST collections moderated to Rs 1.41 trillion in May, reflecting a 4% decline in e-way bills in April. A continued momentum in GST receipts from July 2021 onwards yielded average gross GST mop-up of Rs 1.23 trillion in FY22, up 29% on year. Officials reckon that monthly GST revenues may average at Rs 1.35 trillion in FY23 as against an average of Rs 1.2 trillion factored in the Budget. Continued buoyancy in GST collections for several months in a row would help allay the state governments’ concerns about a revenue shock they might have to deal with once five-year revenue protection ends on June 30. Given that an incipient pick-up in consumption has resulted in a more-thanproportionate jump in GST revenues, a stronger economic recovery could allow the collections to settle at an elevated level, proving the high revenue productivity of the broad-based consumption tax. The rise in monthly gross GST collections have given some breathing space to the GST Council to recalibrate an action plan on tax rates, as the shortfall in GST by states after end of compensation mechanism will not be that high, officials reckon. Under the GST compensation mechanism, which is constitutionally guaranteed, state governments are assured 14% annual revenue growth for the first five years after the tax’s July 2017 launch.
Source: Financial Express
Both corporate and consumer loans will become pricier after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday hiked the repo rate by 50 bps to 4.9%. The jump in interest costs for retail households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) could lead to contraction in demand of as much as Rs 45,000 crore. According to Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economist, State Bank of India (SBI), every 1 basis point increase in the repo has an impact of around Rs 305 crore on interest costs for retail & MSME consumers. “Should the terminal repo rate go to 5.75%, this would add up to an annualised Rs 45,000 crore. If incomes don’t go up, this means a contraction in demand of a similar amount,” he said. Both corporate and consumer loans will become pricier after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday hiked the repo rate by 50 bps to 4.9%. Given about 75% of the book is linked to either an external benchmark or deposit costs, interest rates are likely to go up,” Dinesh Khara, chairman, SBI, told a TV channel.
Source: Financial Express
As many as 250 industries have given consent to invest in the newly proposed textile cluster to come up at Sukhpuri in Burhanpur. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Burhanpur Sukhpuri Textile Cluster Association has pegged the likely investment in the cluster at Rs 350-400 crore. A dedicated textile cluster has been approved by the cabinet in Sukhpuri at Burhanpur that is expected to come up on over 60 hectare. The saleable land to industries in the cluster will be around 40 lakh sq Ft. So far 30 industries have submitted the deposit to the SPV for 10 lakh sq ft in the cluster. Prashant Shorff, director, Burhanpur Sukhpuri Textile Cluster Association said, “The association has received written consents from 250 industries for the textile cluster. This region is a hub for textile industries and the approval for cluster has come as a boon for the sector. This cluster will help micro and small industries set its footprint and enhance production by cutting down on losses’‘ A 12 member SVP has been incorporated for the cluster and the number of members will gradually increase with more industries putting in the amount for purchasing land parcels in the cluster. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) department has identified around 63 hectare undeveloped land parcel in Sukhpuri village in Burhanpur for developing a textile cluster under the state government’s new cluster policy described in the MSME Rule 2021. Near about 40,000 power looms operate out of homes, small rooms and unorganised workshops in Burhanpur According to the District Industries and Trade Center, the proposed textile cluster is coming close to the industrial belt developed by the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (MPIDC) and this has attracted many industries for putting in investt in the cluster. Most of the investment in the cluster has come from local textile industries, according to the SPV.
Source: Times of India
Perhaps the most well-known address serving as a nod to Erode's status as a textile marketplace is Texvalley, a sprawling wholesale complex spanning 20 lakh square feet and hosting 500 wholesale shops that cater to big buyers and retail customers. Located about a hundred kilometers from Coimbatore, beyond Tamil Nadu's textile town of Tiruppur, is a dusty little town called Erode. Over the years, the district has garnered a reputation for itself as Tiruppur's marketplace — garments manufactured in the town's many factories often find their way to retail and wholesale counters in Erode. Perhaps the most well-known address serving as a nod to Erode's status as a textile marketplace is Texvalley, a sprawling wholesale complex spanning 20 lakh square feet and hosting 500 wholesale shops that cater to big buyers and retail customers. By Diwali this year, Texvalley, its promoters say, could wear a whole new skin: that of a destination mall with a multiplex, pubs, fine-dining restaurants, a 500-seater food court, entertainment zones and a hotel, on-site. In a chat with CNBC-TV18, Texvalley's promoters said they have reason to believe that post-COVID demographics have led to a catchment area that justifies establishing a destination mall of this magnitude. "There is a spending money and disposable income a lot of people made the decision to stay back in their hometowns while continuing to work for their global organizations," said C Devarajan, vice chairman at Erode Textile Mall Ltd, which owns Texvalley. "Nearly 5,000 people in Erode now have better income because they live in a small town," he added, "Given that agricultural commodity prices have also increased — agriculture is a major occupation here — people actually have the money to spend, inflation notwithstanding." However, the 500 wholesale brands that have made the mall their home aren’t going anywhere in a hurry. According to Texvalley, the mall’s new avatar is expected to house B-to-B and B-to-C businesses, with 4 lakh square feet earmarked for consumer businesses spanning electronics, apparel, accessories, home furnishing, F&B, entertainment, and leisure goods. Post-makeover, Texvalley’s monthly footfall of 60,000 is expected to rise to 5 lakh business executives, customers and tourists, the company said. "We do about Rs 750 crore worth of business per annum and project that it will touch Rs 12,000 crore over the next seven to ten years," said Devarajan, "However, in the next two years alone, our vision is to reach Rs 4,000 crore in annual turnover — that’s six times of what it is today." An AC Nielsen market report on South India's largest textile marketplace is in agreement with these ambitions, as it projects Texvalley’s turnover to touch about Rs 5,000 crore by 2024, should the destination mall take form and shape at the appointed time. These targets aside, analysts say that an integration of B-to-B and B-to-C businesses along the scale that Texvalley hopes to achieve, maybe a first in Indian mall retail. "The attempt is aimed at mixing commerce and fun to result in a model that increases the mall’s catchment area," said Sushil S Dungarwal, Chief Mall Mechanic at Beyond Square Feet. "A shopping mall attracts people from a seven-kilometre radius, while a B-to-B shopping space can attract people from all over," he explained, "Here (B-to-B and B-to-C businesses combined), the primary catchment increases to about 50 to 100 kilometres, and that will be a key differentiator." Textile business falls upon hard times Incidentally, the makeover comes at a time when textiles are facing their most challenging phase across the Indian markets. In India, a candy of cotton has seen its price increase from Rs 43,000 in April 2020 to Rs 1.1 lakh today. According to reports, hundreds of mills in the town and its neighbor, Tiruppur, have shut shop as a direct result of being unable to bear procurement costs. Less than a month ago, 10,000 textile shops in the district downed their shutters as a mark of protest, with 25 textile associations participating in the strike. Yarn prices have doubled in the last couple of years too. According to the Erode Cloth Merchants’ Association, the town’s ‘40s count cotton yarn’ has seen its price go up from Rs 200 to Rs 400 per kg, while ‘30s count cotton yarn’ has seen a price-hike too — from Rs 170 to Rs 330 per kg. In the context of this scenario, wholesalers at Texvalley are more than happy at the prospect of better footfalls, as these traders have seen business halved and procurement budgets double. "A bigger mall with more customers is a good idea because it will bring in better footfalls," said Dhanalakshmi Mohan, proprietor of Angalamman Tex, a wholesale store located within Texvalley. "A piece of fabric that we used to buy for Rs 150 now costs Rs 250," she added, "We have no margins but to cut our margins by 20 percent and sell, because that’s the only way we can do business." Other stores within the mall have resorted to hiking prices in order to tide over escalating raw material prices, with most stores seeing hikes of 15 to 20 percent per product, which end up as a price-hike of Rs 200 to 300.
Source: CNBCTV18
India’s Arvind Limited is gradually cutting down its garment production capacity in Ethiopia with uncertainty looming over renewal of the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The company, however, has earmarked ₹200 crore for capacity augmentation in its advanced material division and garmenting businesses, and cost optimisation projects for fabric business during fiscal 2022-23. “During the year we completed a restructuring of some of our facilities across India and also started to gradually bring down capacity in Ethiopia. We had shared that the AGOA Treaty has been kind of cancelled for now and hence duty-free exports from Ethiopia to the US have been halted. As such, the traffic for that location has come down, so we have started kind of reducing the footprint there. So, our installed capacity has come down to about 50 million pieces or so,” Samir Agrawal, chief strategy officer at Arvind, told analysts in a post-earnings call recently. Enacted in 2000, the AGOA offers sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the United States. It was renewed in 2015 till 2025 but faces uncertainty over its extension further. The key challenge in this segment has been the continuously rising prices of all the raw materials, most prominently cotton, which continued to climb even though the new harvest coming in the market around November, he informed.
Source: Fibre2fashion
The Indian ministry of power recently notified the Green Open Access Rules, 2022, to promote generation, purchase and consumption of green energy, including that from waste-to-energy plants. The rules enable simplified procedure for and faster approval of open access to green power, uniform banking, and voluntary purchase of renewable energy by commercial and industrial consumers. Captive consumers can take power under Green Open Access with no minimum limitation. Discom consumers can demand for supply of green power to them. Green Open Access is allowed to any consumer and the limit of open access transaction has been reduced from 1 MW to 100 kW for green energy, to enable small consumers to purchase renewable power through open access. The rules will offer certainty on open access charges to be levied on green energy open access consumers. This includes transmission charges, wheeling charges, cross-subsidy surcharge and standby charges, an official release said. The cap on increasing of cross-subsidy surcharge as well as the removal of additional surcharge not only incentivise consumers to go green, but also address issues that have hindered the growth of open access in India. Approval, to be carried out through a national portal, will be granted in 15 days or else it will be deemed to have been approved subject to fulfilment of technical requirements. The tariff for green energy shall be determined separately by the appropriate commission, which shall comprise of the average pooled power purchase cost of renewable energy, cross-subsidy charges, if any, and service charges covering the prudent cost of the distribution licensee for providing the green energy to the consumers. The rules will help streamline the overall approval process for granting open access to improve predictability of cash flows for renewable power producers. It will also bring uniformity in the application procedure. There shall be a uniform renewable purchase obligation on all obligated entities in area of a distribution licensees. It has also included green hydrogen and green ammonia for fulfilment of its recovery point objective. Consumers will be given the green certificates if they consume green power. Cross subsidy surcharge and additional surcharge shall not be applicable if green energy is utilised for production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.
Source: Fibre2fashion
Bangladesh commerce minister Tipu Munshi recently hoped that the country’s export earnings would cross $80 billion by 2024. The government had earlier set an export earnings target of $51 billion this fiscal (FY22). Now it hopes that the figure would reach $60 billion this year. Munshi said this while inaugurating 50 types of online services by the office of the chief controller of imports and exports, reports a news agency. Senior secretary in the ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh, who presided over the event, said that hence forward no services would be provided offline from the office. One who seeks a service has to file an online licencing module account against his organisation and can avail of the desired services through that account. No third party will be able to interfere in the process.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
Vietnam issued Decree 34 extending the deadline for CIT, PIT, VAT, and land rental payments for 2022. The Decree is in effect until December 31, 2022. The government issued Decree 34 to help businesses and individuals recover from post-pandemic effects and aid business recovery. Vietnam Briefing describes the tax incentives and how businesses can avail them. To aid business recovery, Vietnam issued Decree 34/2022/ND-CP on extending the deadline for corporate income tax (CIT), personal income tax (PIT), value-added tax (VAT), and land rental fees for 2022. Decree 34 applies to business activities that have generated revenue in 2021 or 2022. The Decree took effect on May 28 and is valid until December 31, 2022. Decree 34 is similar to Decree 52 last year, which catered to businesses affected by the pandemic. Who is eligible? The Decree applies to companies, individuals, and businesses households (taxpayers). For VAT benefits, the Decree applies to taxpayers who have production activities in agriculture, forestry and fishery, food, textiles, rubber, metal production, electronics, automobiles, construction, and wastewater treatment. For CIT and land rental fee benefits, the Decree applies to taxpayers in transport, accommodation, food and drink, education, labor, healthcare, computer programming, supporting industry products, credit institutions, and foreign banks. How are the deadlines for tax payment extended? Eligible taxpayers are granted a specific extension of tax payments of which details are as follows: VAT (Except VAT on imports) A descending deferral of VAT payment to eligible taxpayers for certain VAT-reporting periods, specifically: • 6-month deferral for VAT payable from March-May 2022; • 5-month deferral for VAT payable of Jun 2022 and 2nd quarter of 2022; • 4-month deferral for VAT payable of Jul 2022 and 2nd quarter of 2022; and • 3-month deferral for VAT payable of Aug 2022 and 2nd quarter of 2022. VAT and PIT for individuals and business households The deadline for payment for VAT and PIT for individuals and business households such as SMEs is extended to December 30, 2022. CIT payments for Q1 and Q2 will be extended by three months. So, for example, payment of Q1 CIT would be due by July 30, 2022. Of note, taxpayers should still consider the 75 percent rule when making provisional CIT remittances. Land rental fee Land rental fees for taxpayers leasing directly from the government has been extended with a six-month duration from May 31 to November 30, 2022. Procedures for extension of payments It is important to note that the tax deferral is not applied automatically, rather the eligible taxpayers must prepare and submit an application for tax and land rent deferral (either electronically or other methods) to the managing tax authority for their consideration. Taxpayers are required to submit the deferral along with relevant forms in Decree 34 to local tax authorities with their monthly or quarterly return no later than September 30, 2022. Taxpayers will be responsible for doing a self-assessment of their eligibility for deferment of tax payments and tax authorities do not have to inform businesses whether their application is accepted. If taxpayers are found to be ineligible for deferment of tax and land lease payments in future tax audits, they will be subject to interest penalties for late payments by tax authorities. Therefore, businesses should maintain enough evidence to justify their eligibility to mitigate the risks of any future tax payments and interest penalties. Firms are advised to seek professional advice to ensure they can take advantage of Decree 34 but also remain compliant.
Source: Vietnam Briefing
Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Wednesday assured All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) leadership to provide all technical and financial support to textile industry of Pakistan in promoting manufacture and export of nonwoven fabric and technical textiles. A five members delegation of KOICA visited APTMA office here and had discussions with senior APTMA management and leading textile manufacturers on the scope of promoting technical textiles. They said that KOICA is a donor agency, working closely with National Textile University (NTU) Faisalabad to promote non-woven textile fabrics and technical textiles. APTMA management Asad Shafi, Shahzad Ahmed Sheikh, Haroon Elahi, Ismail Farid, Umair Abid and Secretary General APTMA Raza Baqir welcomed the delegation at APTMA House. On this occasion, Asad Shafi made a detailed presentation on textile industry in general and prospects of non-woven textile industry in Pakistan. He appreciated the establishment of testing laboratory by KOICA at NTU, Faisalabad in the first phase of cooperation and lauded the launching of the second phase aimed at providing R&D facilities, advance testing and support to the potential investors. He hoped that this generous offer from KOICA would go a long way to enhance Pakistan’s meagre share of 0.2 percent in $200 billion global market of technical textiles.
Source: Pak Observer
Bangladesh finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is likely to place a taka 6,78,064-crore budget for the next fiscal (FY23) in the parliament tomorrow, aiming at containing inflation amid tackling the unfavourable global economic situation. The proposed budget size is around 15.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and taka 74,383 crore higher than the original budget of FY22. The original budget size of the outgoing fiscal was around 17.5 per cent of the GDP. The next budget aims at attaining a GDP growth rate of 7.5 per cent based on the positive trend of economic recovery from the pandemic and containing inflation at 5.6 per cent. This will be the country's 51st budget and the 23rd of the Awami League government in five terms, Bangladeshi media reported. The price of essentials commodities in the country is hurting the masses and the taka is constantly devaluating against the US dollar. The import of luxurious items has been discouraged to reduce the pressure on foreign currency reserves. To give respite from the heat of high inflation trend, the government is focusing on reining in inflation through increasing subsidies. To meet the demand for this huge budget size, the government has set an overall revenue collection target of taka 4,33,000 crore—9.8 per cent of the GDP. The overall revenue collection target in FY22 was earlier set at taka 3,89,000 crore—11.3 per cent of the GDP, according to Bangladeshi media reports. Finance division officials said the next budget is likely to set a budget deficit target of 5.5 per cent of the GDP or taka 2,45,064 crore, estimated at taka 30,383 crore higher than the original budget deficit of taka 2,14,681 crore in the outgoing fiscal. The budget deficit in FY22 was earlier set at 6.2 per cent of the GDP. In the fresh budget, the government is likely to earmark taka 82,745 crore as subsidy in various sectors—1.9 per cent of the GDP. In the revised budget of FY22, subsidies were estimated at taka 66,825 crore, or 1.7 per cent of the GDP.
Source: Fibre2 Fashion
Nigeria’s cotton production has fallen steeply in recent years. It once supported the largest textile industry in Africa. The fall is due to weak demand for cotton and to poor yields resulting from planting low-quality cottonseeds. For these reasons, farmers switched from cotton to other crops. Nigeria’s cotton output fell from 602,400 tonnes in 2010 to 51,000 tonnes in 2020. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the country’s textile industry had 180 textile mills employing over 450,000 people, supported by about 600,000 cotton farmers. By 2019, there were 25 textile mills and 25,000 workers. The industry competes in a global textile market that was valued at US$ 993.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a rate of 4.0% from 2022 to 2030. Once the continent’s leader, Nigeria spends on average US$4 billion a year to import textiles that it could produce itself. Imports put pressure on foreign exchange reserves, jobs and local demand for cotton. Technical innovation could make the textile sector more competitive – not only by improving cotton production but also by improving textile quality. This can be achieved in Nigeria. Nowadays, textiles’ properties can be greatly improved through nanotechnology – the use of extremely small materials with special properties. Nanomaterials like graphene and silver nanoparticles make textiles stronger, durable, and resistant to germs, radiation, water and fire. Adding nanomaterials to textiles produces nanotextiles. These are often “smart” because they respond to the external environment in different ways when combined with electronics. They can be used to harvest and store energy, to release drugs, and as sensors in different applications. Nanotextiles are increasingly used in defence and healthcare. For hospitals, they are used to produce bandages, curtains, uniforms and bedsheets with the ability to kill pathogens. The market value of nanotextiles was US$5.1 billion in 2019 and could reach US$14.8 billion in 2024. At the moment, Nigeria is not benefiting from nanotextiles’ economic potential as it produces none. With over 216 million people, the country should be able to support its textile industry. It could also explore trading opportunities in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to market innovative nanotextiles. Nanotextiles in Nigeria Our nanotechnology research group has made the first attempt to produce nanotextiles using cotton and silk in Nigeria. We used silver and silver-titanium oxide nanoparticles produced by locust beans’ wastewater. Locust bean is a multipurpose tree legume found in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa. The seeds, the fruit pulp and the leaves are used to prepare foods and drinks. The seeds are used to produce a local condiment called “iru” in southwest Nigeria. The processing of iru generates a large quantity of wastewater that is not useful. We used the wastewater to reduce some compounds to produce silver and silver-titanium nanoparticles in the laboratory. Fabrics were dipped into nanoparticle solutions to make nanotextiles. Thereafter, the nanotextiles were exposed to known bacteria and fungi. The growth of the organisms was monitored to determine the ability of the nanotextiles to kill them. The nanotextiles prevented growth of several pathogenic bacteria and black mould, making them useful as antimicrobial materials. They were active against germs even after being washed five times with detergent. Textiles without nanoparticles did not prevent the growth of microorganisms. These studies showed that nanotextiles can kill harmful microorganisms including those that are resistant to drugs. Materials such as air filters, sportswear, nose masks, and healthcare fabrics produced from nanotextiles possess excellent antimicrobial attributes. Nanotextiles can also promote wound healing and offer resistance to radiation, water and fire. Our studies established the value that nanotechnology can add to textiles through hygiene and disease prevention. Using nanotextiles will promote good health and well-being for sustainable development. They will assist to reduce infections that are caused by germs. Despite these benefits, nanomaterials in textiles can have some unwanted effects on the environment, health and safety. Some nanomaterials can harm human health causing irritation when they come in contact with skin or inhaled. Also, their release to the environment in large quantities can harm lower organisms and reduce growth of plants. We recommend that the impacts of nanotextiles should be evaluated case by case before use. Reviving Nigeria’s textile sector In addition to government’s efforts to revive Nigeria’s textile sector, opportunities in nanotechnology should be explored. Smart nanotextiles that can compete favourably with foreign textiles could be produced locally. Agriculture can benefit from nanopesticides, nanofungicides and nanofertilizers boosting crop yield. This has been applied to cotton farming. Nanotechnology is also useful to treat effluents of the textile industry in an eco-friendly manner. Together with higher cotton production, nanotextile products can return Nigeria’s textile industry to glory. This is a unique way to improve Nigeria’s economy by nanotechnology.
Source: The Conversation
