How to Set Up a High-Tenacity Industrial Webbing and Seatbelt Fabric Manufacturing Plant in India
High-Tenacity Industrial Webbing Manufacturing Plant On Indian roads more than 15 crore vehicles use seatbelts manufactured from high-tenacity webbing each year. Then there are the thousands of tonnes in industrial lifting slings, para drop gear for the Indian Army, container lashing belts and adventure sports harnesses – and that’s a market that most people walk past day in and day out without even recognising it. India imports about 35-40% of its high-performance technical textile webbing requirements, mostly from China, Taiwan and South Korea. The cost of imports is in the hundreds of crore rupees every year. That the India deficit is not because of a failure of policy is not a claim to be taken for granted. It is a call that is open to you. One of the most unglamorous but most-profitable segments in the Indian technical textile industry is the high-tenacity industrial webbing and seatbelt fabric. No consumer brand name to build and no retail distribution headaches. You’re selling to automotive OEMs, defense procurement firms, cargo logistics firms, and safety equipment manufacturers, all of whom sign annual purchase agreements and pay promptly, and who demand quality above all else. So, if you are thinking of starting a manufacturing business with a defensible customer base, low advertising costs and domestic demand that is growing with the growth of the auto sector and Indian infrastructure then this is the article you should read. Get Detailed Insights from This Book: The Complete Technology Book on Textile India’s Import Dependency: A Supply Gap Worth Hundreds of Crore The data released by the Ministry of Textiles puts the value of India’s technical textiles industry at INR 2.19 lakh crore, and this is projected to grow to INR 4 lakh crore in the near future. In this, one of the most im-port-dependent segments is the industrial webbing and belting. The use of seat belts in the passenger vehicle sector alone exceeds 8,000 tonnes of webbing annually. As per reports from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), homegrown passenger vehicle production has hit the 40 lakh mark per year, which is on the back of consistent demand, with the requirement of fitting seatbelts on all seating positions under AIS-072 norms. There are also commercial vehicles, two-wheelers with lap belts and bus retrofitting which contribute to the volume. Another under-served pocket is defence procurement. High tenacity webbing is required by Indian Army, Air Force and Para Military for load-bearing equipment, para-descent equipment, vehicle towing strap and rifle sling. The DRDO has been alerting on dependency on imports in the field of technical textiles on several occasions. Domestic manufacturers that are certified by BIS and have the military grade testing clearance enjoy a captive market where there is hardly any room for price negotiation. The current capacity of webbing production in India is largely in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, but these produce less than 65% of the national demand. States such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have a high proportion of downstream consumption (automotive, construction, agriculture) with little or no upstream webbing manufacturing. That is the opening. Industrial clusters with highest demand concentration and those requiring urgent supply of locally-sourced webbing are mapped against state-wise demand concentration in the table below. Table 1: State-wise Industrial Webbing Demand and Key Clusters State / Region Key Application Major Industrial Cluster Estimated Annual Demand (MT) Maharashtra Automotive seatbelts, cargo straps Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad 18,000–22,000 MT Tamil Nadu Auto ancillary, defence webbing Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur 14,000–17,000 MT Gujarat Industrial lifting, marine Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara 12,000–15,000 MT Haryana / Delhi NCR Seatbelts, safety harness Faridabad, Gurugram, Manesar 10,000–13,000 MT Rajasthan Military, para-drop webbing Jaipur, Jodhpur 6,000–8,000 MT Uttar Pradesh Cargo securing, agriculture Kanpur, Agra, Noida 5,500–7,000 MT Source: SIAM Annual Report, Ministry of Textiles Technical Textiles Mission, DRDO procurement data. MT = Metric Tonnes. Why Entry Now Makes Commercial Sense The launch of the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) has come with a budget of INR 1,480 crore which is the biggest structural push India has given in this sector. Industrial webbing, geotextiles and safety belts are specific categories mentioned in the mission. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme offers 15% incentive on incremental sales for technical textiles in the first two years, followed by 11% and 3% respectively in the subsequent years. There are three macro factors that are all driving demand up. First: India’s vehicle production is on the rise steadily. At a minimum, 4–7 metres of seatbelt webbing is needed for every new vehicle. The market for seatbelt webbing is expanding with the introduction of new seatbelt in certain commercial categories under the new crashworthiness rules and as EV makers such as Tata, Mahindra and Ola Electric increase their production. Secondly, the BIS mandatory certification order for personal protective equipment now extends to industrial safety harnesses, climbing slings and fall arrest systems – all of which are based on high-tenacity webbing as the principle structuring material. This compulsory certification system effectively bans imports that are not certified and provides the domestic manufacturers with a quality threshold for the imported products. Third: India’s exports of readymade garments, cargo and industrial goods all go through container shipping. The lashing straps used in containers and cargo securing webbing, which are fully composed of high-tenacity polyester or nylon, are being used in huge numbers at all the major ports—JNPT, Mundra, Chennai and Vizag. PMEGP (Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme): This provides capital subsidy of up to 35% for new manufacturing units in rural areas. The credit guarantee provided by CGTMSE is up to INR 5 crore, which is collateral-free and is offered to the initial borrowers of the MSME. Subvention on machinery loans is given under TUFS (Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme) at 4-6%. All the above are unlocked after a 10-minute Udyam Registration in the MSME Ministry. Get Detailed Project Report (DPR): Technical Textiles: Agrotech to Sportech Projects How to Set Up: A Step-by-Step Blueprint Investment and Space The total investment required in the small-scale entry (8-10 high speed









