New Delhi, May 21: India has become the world's second largest manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) body coveralls within a short time span of two months, the government said on Thursday. China is the world''s leading producer of PPE body coveralls, crucial to safeguard against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the Ministry of Textiles said it has been taking several steps to ensure that both quality and quantity of PPE coveralls going up to the desired levels within a very short span of time of two months, "thereby catapulting India into the world''s second largest manufacturer of body coveralls, next only to China". Pakistan: Hospitals in PoK Get Used PPE Kits, Masks With Paan Stains to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic.

The ministry has taken steps to ensure that only certified players across the entire supply chain are allowed to supply body coveralls to governments, an official statement said.

Besides, Textiles Committee, Mumbai too will now test and certify PPE body coveralls required for healthcare workers and other COVID-19 warriors.

Ajit Chavan, secretary, Textiles Committee and Additional Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, explained how the committee rose up to the occasion to surmount the challenge of non-availability of reputed domestic manufacturers of PPE testing equipment.

"We faced the humongous challenges of non-availability of domestic manufacturers of repute and incessant delay/long gestation period to import machine from China as also challenges of ever-increasing prices by the opportunist companies in China due to demand for such equipment the world over. We therefore decided to do it indigenously," he said.

The secretary informed how the testing equipment will help the nation during the crisis: "With the acquisition of this equipment and with a concrete plan to add some more equipment as per need, we will be able to address not only the quantitative but also the qualitative requirements involved in the testing of body coveralls worn by the frontline health workers and other COVID-19 warriors".

The Textiles Committee is a statutory body established in 1963 through an Act of Parliament and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

It was formed to ensure the quality of textiles and textile machinery both for internal consumption and export purpose.

The committee is tasked with the functions of establishing laboratories for the testing of textiles and textile machinery and providing for their inspection and examination, besides other functions which flow from the main objective of ensuring quality of textiles products and textiles machinery.