Indian Startup ‘Swatric’ aims to make National Flag Nearly Indestructible

SWATRIC, an IIT Delhi startup, has collaborated with the Flag Foundation of India to create an innovative textile solution for the Indian flag. According to a statement, the flag’s material was chosen and manufactured particularly to withstand harsh weather in the country’s various climatic and geographical circumstances while being lightweight.

The Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi, and the Foundation recently signed an MoU to carry out the associated research and development activities through the company.

SWATRIC, a company founded by researchers at the Institute’s Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, is developing cutting-edge technologies to assist India’s domestic textile and garment industries in commercializing new and competitive categories of smart and functional goods.

Indian people were granted the freedom to display their national flag throughout the year on January 26, 2002, and the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case on January 23, 2004, that the right to fly the national flag freely, with respect and dignity, is a basic right.

“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,” the statement said.

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

The Flag Foundation of India is a non-governmental organization that was established in 1980 under the society’s registration act with the primary goal of increasing the number of Indians who proudly display the Tiranga (tricolour).

IIT Delhi Director Professor V Ramgopal Rao hailed the collaboration between IIT Delhi researchers and the Flag Foundation of India, saying,

“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 the Indian Textile sector through ‘Make in India’ technologies for various applications ranging from geotextiles, defence, sportswear, smart wearables, medical, composites, transport, protection, packaging, etc.”