(Photo: Mr Manish Singhal)

New Delhi: IIT Delhi alumnus Mr Manish Singhal (B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering, 1994 batch) has endowed the ‘Manish Singhal Chair’ to promote excellence and leadership in teaching and research in the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering with an emphasis on Smart Textiles.

Mr Manish Singhal is the Managing Director of KG Petrochem Ltd., a Jaipur based company having interests in textiles, garments, artificial leathers, and polymers. KG Petrochem is a leading manufacturer of cotton terry towels, made-ups such as bathrobe, pillow, cushion cover and quilts, which it markets both domestically and internationally. KG Petrochem’s technical textiles division manufacture PU based high-quality artificial leather for the automotive, footwear and clothing industries.

Prof R.S. Rengasamy, Head of the Department, Textile and Fibre Engineering, IIT Delhi while speaking of the Chair said that the establishment of ‘Manish Singhal Chair’ will facilitate wider and deeper interactions between the industry, faculty and students and promote ‘Smart Textiles’ in the country.

Smart Textiles refer to specialized textile materials that have built-in functionality to serve a special purpose over and above the usual functions of apparel. It is an emerging area that is taking applications of textiles to new territories of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), medicine, defence, space, and manufacturing. It aims at adding electronic functionality in textiles for sensing, communication, energy harvesting and storage, and creating highly protective apparel against microbes and radiations.

Dr. Ashwini K. Agrawal, a professor in the Textile and Fibre Engineering Department added, “I am really happy to learn that Mr Manish Singhal has taken initiative to encourage and recognize research in Smart Textiles at IIT Delhi. Several faculty members at the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering have been doing pioneering work in this area for the last several years. SMITA Research Lab, which is now a Centre of Excellence in Smart Textiles, has been instrumental in taking some of the technologies to the market”.

IIT Delhi continues to draw a significant and growing interest by its alumni on contributing towards research advancement at the Institute, in technological and social fields like Artificial Intelligence, Public Policy, Decision Sciences, Data Analytics etc.

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