Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called for strengthening the textile value chain “from farm to fibre, factory, fashion and foreign markets” to build a robust and globally competitive textile sector, while outlining ambitious targets of USD 100 billion in textile exports and USD 250 billion in textile production by 2030.
Addressing the TEXPROCIL Export Awards 2023–24 ceremony in Mumbai, Sitharaman said achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047 would require accelerated growth in the textile industry, which remains one of the country’s largest employment-generating sectors.
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) organised the event to honour top performers in India’s cotton textile export sector. Awards were presented to exporters for outstanding export performance, employment generation, innovation, ESG initiatives and excellence in e-commerce.
During the event, the Finance Minister also launched TEXPROCIL’s Advanced Certificate Programme in International Trade (ACPIT), aimed at strengthening India’s export ecosystem and improving global trade competitiveness. The programme has been designed in alignment with various government schemes and policy initiatives.
Highlighting India’s textile legacy, Sitharaman referred to the Sindhu-Saraswati Civilisation and archaeological evidence of ancient weaving traditions, saying the country’s rich textile heritage continues to shape its global identity.
The Minister noted that India has emerged as the world’s sixth-largest textile exporter, with the sector contributing around 2.3 per cent to GDP and accounting for nearly 12 per cent of the country’s export earnings. The industry supports nearly six crore livelihoods directly and indirectly, while textile exports touched approximately USD 33.5 billion in 2025-26, she added.
The Finance Minister said the government has introduced several structural reforms since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the sector. These include GST reforms, subsidy support, the PM MITRA Parks scheme to create world-class textile infrastructure and the Samarth Scheme focused on skilling and empowering marginalised communities.
The Minister said seven PM MITRA textile parks are being developed across the country, with investment MoUs worth over ₹27,000 crore already signed. Sitharaman also highlighted the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS), launched in 2016, which provides capital and interest subsidies for technology modernisation in the sector.
Textile Commissioner Vrunda Desai thanked the Finance Minister for recent textile-focused initiatives announced in the Union Budget, including the Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme, National Fibre Scheme, Tex-Eco Initiative and Samarth 2.0, and reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment towards modernising the sector.
TEXPROCIL Chairman Vijay Agarwal said the organisation’s 2,000 exporters contribute nearly USD 11 billion in exports while the wider cotton textile ecosystem supports around 35 million jobs.
Agarwal also highlighted TEXPROCIL’s efforts to promote the Indian cotton brand Kasturi Cotton through branding, certification and traceability initiatives to strengthen India’s position in sustainable textiles globally.
