Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA) is one of the prime textile research institutes in the country. The textile industry and Ministry of Textiles, GoI jointly established NITRA in 1974 for conducting scientific research and providing support services to Indian textiles industry. The organization is situated in a 50 acre land at NCR Ghaziabad, near national capital New Delhi. NITRA’s prime activities include research & development, technical consultancy, quality evaluation of materials, manpower training, technical publication and providing facilitating services to the decentralized powerloom sector through its seven service centres.
NITRA is under the administrative control of a Council of Administration comprising of representatives from T&A industry, GoI, trade associations, academia and TRAs. The council is presently headed by its Chairman Sh.R.L.Nolkha, an eminent industrialist. Dr. J. V. Rao, a veteran academician and dynamic research scientist is the present Director of NITRA.
NITRA renders multifarious services through 13 technical divisions engaging more than fifty experienced technical personnel. NITRA has a clientele of about 1200 textiles and allied sector units. The portfolio also includes overseas clients from U.K., Spain, Indonesia, Thailand, Ethiopia, Sudan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Activities
NITRA undertakes research projects in textile product development, machine design, instrument development and process development. NITRA also possesses patented technologies based upon its R&D works. It houses pilot scale spinning, weaving, knitting and chemical processing workshops for development of different types of yarns and fabrics. It also has pre-sewing, sewing, embroidery and finishing workshops for garment production. All these workshops are equipped with state-of-art technology.
NITRA’s infrastructure facilities for quality evaluation includes six NABL accredited QC laboratories capable of analyzing materials as per IS, ASTM, DIN, BS, ISO, JASO, AADTCC, EN and other customized standards. With support from MoT, a Centre of Excellence (Protech) for protective textiles is established at NITRA in the year 2009. The activities of CoE are product development, preparation of standards/specifications, testing, training manpower, organizing workshops and seminars, and information dissemination as a resource center. The CoE has now “FIRE TESTING LAB” to test textile and allied products for heat, flame and safety related characteristics as per International and IS standards. This lab also got NABL accreditation in November’ 2011.
NITRA’s consultancy services include various technical audits, feasibility studies, system certification services, infrastructure set up, asset valuation, third party inspection, energy conservation & energy audit, design and commissioning of ETPs & CETPs and product/process development.
To meet industrial HRD needs, NITRA’s Library & Information Centre has stock of about 4400 books including 170 own publications. It also subscribes to 110 national and international journals. The library & information service is available for textile industry professionals and associated individuals. NITRA also organizes seminars, workshops and conducts various industry-recognized job-oriented techno-management training programs on full-time and DLP modes. By March 2012, an additional 1,17,725 sq. ft constructed area will be ready at NITRA campus to launch 98 Skill Development Programs for the complete supply chain of T&A industry. These programs are conducted under GoI’s Integrated Skill Development Scheme and UP Govt’s ASIDE Scheme.
NITRA is also rendering services to the Decentralized Sector through seven Power Loom Service Centres located at Tanda, Kanpur, Meerut, Gorakhpur (all in U.P.), Panipat (Haryana), Ludhiana (Punjab) and Bhilwara (Rajasthan).
