IIT Delhi startup, NGO to create advanced fabric for Tricolour

An IIT Delhi startup, SWATRIC, has collaborated with the Flag Foundation of India to develop a top-notch and advanced textile solution for the national flag of the country.

An MoU was recently signed between the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi, and the Flag Foundation of India to execute the associated research and development activities via the startup.

Prof Bipin Kumar, Textile and Fibre Engineering Department, IIT Delhi and Mentor, SWATRIC, said, “It is the need of the hour to help manufacturers with a proper standardisation and core subject knowledge or skills on technical yarns and fabrics to improve the quality of the flag fabric.”

Material to withstand extreme weather conditions 

“Given India’s diverse climatic and geographical conditions, designing and developing engineered fabric for the flag is a big challenge. The flag’s materials have to be selected and designed specifically to make it durable for extreme weather conditions without being too heavy,” said a official from IIT Delhi.

The Flag Foundation of India is a non-governmental organisation, registered under the society’s registration act of 1980. It has a primary vision to popularise the display of the Tiranga (tricolor flag) by more and more Indians, with a great sense of pride.

Speaking of the MoU with IIT Delhi, Major General (retd) Ashim Kohli, CEO, Flag Foundation of India, said, “We have always been facing a challenge of obtaining good quality flags. It is indeed a proud moment for us to work with IIT Delhi’s experts on developing appropriate technologies, which are relevant to the country’s pride.”

SWATRIC is working to develop state-of-the-art technologies to help Indian domestic textile and garment industries in commercialising new and competitive categories of the smart and functional products.

Textile Dept constantly working in smart textiles: IIT Delhi DIrector 

Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, hailed the collaboration between the IIT Delhi researchers and the Flag Foundation of India and said, “India has the potential to be the global leader in technical textiles. The Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering at IIT Delhi has been constantly working in the field of smart and functional textile projects, actively supporting the National Technical Textiles Mission to empower Indian textile sector through 'Make in India' technologies for various applications ranging from geotextiles, defence, sportswear, smart wearables, medical, composites, transport, protection, packaging, etc.”

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