Threads Of Progress

Recently, the Ministry of Textiles reported a 7% increase in textile and apparel exports, including handicrafts, from April to December 2024, compared to the same period the previous year. In line with the growth roadmap

The Make in India initiative, launched in 2014, has played a crucial role in positioning India as a global textile manufacturing and export hub. The textile and apparel industry is one of the largest contributors to India’s economy, providing employment to millions and generating substantial foreign exchange earnings.

The textile and apparel industry contributes 2.3% to our GDP, 13% to industrial production, and 12% to exports. India exported textile items worth US$ 34.4 billion in 2023-24, with apparel constituting 42% of the export basket, followed by raw materials/semi-finished materials at 34% and finished non-apparel goods at 30%. It is also the second largest employment generators, after agriculture, with over 45 million people employed directly, including many women and the rural population. As further evidence of the inclusive nature of this industry, nearly 80% of its capacity is spread across Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) clusters in the country.

The sector also has perfect alignment with the Government’s overall objectives of Make in India, Skill India, Women’s Empowerment, Rural Youth Employment and inclusive growth. The industry produces about 22,000 million pieces of garments per year, with the market size projected to reach US$ 350 billion by 2030, from the current $174 billion.

Recently, the Ministry of Textiles reported a 7% increase in textile and apparel exports, including handicrafts, from April to December 2024, compared to the same period the previous year. In line with the growth roadmap, the Indian textile market currently ranks fifth globally, and the government is actively working to accelerate this growth to a rate of 15-20% over the next five years.

‘Make in India’ Shows Impact

The Make in India initiative has catalyzed textile manufacturing and exports through key policy interventions, enhanced infrastructure, and incentives. In the Union Budget 2024-25, to promote domestic textile production, two more types of shuttle-less looms are added to fully exempted textile machinery by the government. The government has introduced multiple schemes to enhance textile production, boost investments, and promote exports, including:

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Textiles to increase manufacturing in man-made fibre (MMF) and technical textiles. It has a budget of ₹10,683 crore.

PM MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) Parks are being set up to develop world-class industrial infrastructure for textile manufacturing. A budget ₹4,445 crore has been outlined for a period 2021-22 to 2027-28.

Samarth (Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector) will provide skill training to workers in the textile industry, in partnership with the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. An amount of ₹115 crores was sanctioned during the FY 2023-24, out of which ₹114.99 crores (99.9%) were disbursed.

Textile Cluster Development Scheme (TCDS) will create an integrated workspace and linkages-based ecosystem for existing as well as potential textile units/clusters to make them operationally and financially viable.

National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) with a budget of Rs 1,480 crore for 2020-21 to 2025-26 is boosting technical textiles in the country. Focus: The Mission focuses on (i) research, innovation and development, (ii) promotion and market development (iii) education and skilling and (iv) export promotion in technical textiles to position country as global leader in technical textiles.

The Union Budget announced an outlay of ₹5272 crores for the Ministry of Textiles for 2025-26. This is an increase of 19% over budget estimates of 2024-25 (Rs. 4417.03 crore).