Time to re-visit Jute Packaging Act: Kiran Dhingra

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SME Times News Bureau | 08 Aug, 2012
To leverage the jute, kenaf and allied fibres industry it is important to amend the act to enable the industry to induct modern technology, said Kiran Dhingra, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles.

Secretary textiles stated this on Tuesday at a conference on 'Application and Commercialization of Natural Fibres Composites in Infrastructure, Construction, Housing and Automotive Sectors' in New Delhi.

"In India around 3.5 million mill workers are directly employed in the jute packaging process. However, this has invariably led to restricted use of high-end technology in the process of packaging. Hence, to leverage the jute, kenaf and allied fibres industry it is important to re-visit the act," she said.

Jute Packaging Act is an Act to provide for the compulsory use of jute packaging material in supply and distribution of certain commodities in the interests of production of raw jute and jute packaging material, and of persons engaged in the production thereof and for matters connected therewith.

She affirmed, "Jute composites hold out great potential with high physical properties and excellent performance at low weight, i.e., high stiffness, high strength and low density. It is estimated that the market size of bio-composite will increase from USD 2.1 billion in 2010 to USD 3.8 billion in 2016."

"A study indicates that there is scope for about 20 kg of natural fibres to be used in approximately 6,000 to 7,000 million vehicles being produced globally each year," she added.

"Natural fibres especially jute, kenaf and allied fibres are being used in the manufacturing of automobile and infrastructure globally as an optimum replacement of synthetic fibres such as glass, carbon, aramid, electrical or e-glass and polyethylene (PE) fibres," Dhingra remarked in her address.

The conference was organised by FICCI in association with International Jute Study Group (IJSG), Bangladesh and National Jute Board. It focused on strengthening Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the natural fibre sector and exploring real-time approaches for the application and commercialisation of the natural fibre composites especially in infrastructure, construction, housing and automotive sectors.

The Textiles Secretary also pointed out that the infrastructure is another vibrant sector, which can witness niche applications of the natural fibre composites.

"Infrastructure which includes building and construction materials is adopting green technology for moving towards a sustainable environment. Jute-based composites can be focused upon for development as it holds the prospect for application in entirely new areas leading to future development and an increased market share of jute," she added.