India: The Second Largest Manufacturer of PPE in the world

On May 21, 2020, India became the second largest producer of Personal Protective Equipment in the world. China is the leading producer of PPE in the world.

Highlights

The Ministry of Textiles has been taking several measures to maintain the quality of PPE alongside manufacturing.

Background

Initially India faced several challenges in increasing quality PPE products. This includes importing machines from China and also increasing prices. Apart from these, there were delay in imports and non-availability of domestic manufacturers.

The above reasons made India turn indigenous in PPE production. This increased the production of PPE.

It is to be noted that the Textiles Committee recently launched the Synthetic Blood Penetration Testing Equipment. This will help increase PPE testing potential of the country.

Potential of India

India is now producing 2.06 lakh PPE kits every day. This is the maximum capacity of the country. On an average, India produces 1 lakh kits. A PPE kit consists of shoe cover, gloves, eye shield, mask and gown. The data was provided by the Ministry of Health.

In January 2020, India had 2.75 lakh PPE kits and they were then being imported. Today India has more than 15.96 lakh PPE kits as stock buffer.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020