Textile Industry in India

1.1 How did India’s textile industry actually begin?

India’s first textile mill opened at Fort Gloster, near Kolkata, in 1818. It shut down after a short run. The mill that actually stuck was Cowasji Nanabhai Davar’s mechanised cotton mill in Bombay. It opened in 1854, with machinery imported from England. Textiles are now India’s second-largest employer after agriculture. It gives direct work to over 45 million people. Roughly 100 million livelihoods depend on it overall.

1.2 Where does India rank globally, and what raw materials feed the industry?

India ranks as the world’s second-largest textile producer and exporter, behind only China. It’s also the world’s largest cotton producer. It leads in jute, silk, and wool too. The sector spans natural fibres like cotton, silk, jute, and wool. It also spans synthetic fibres like polyester, nylon, acrylic, and viscose.

Cotton and jute aren’t spread evenly across the country. A few states dominate each crop:

• Cotton: Maharashtra leads, followed by Gujarat and Telangana. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh round out the top five.
• Jute: West Bengal alone grows roughly three-fourths of India’s jute. Bihar and Assam are distant second and third.

2.1 Why did the industry take root specifically in Mumbai and Ahmedabad?

Mumbai’s warm, moist climate suited spinning and weaving well. Its port made it easy to import machinery and export finished cloth. Ahmedabad sits on the Sabarmati river, close to cotton-growing areas. Its flat land suited mill-building well. Gujarat and Maharashtra’s dense population supplied both skilled and semi-skilled labour. A developed rail and road network gave easy access to markets too. Ahmedabad grew into India’s second-largest textile city, earning it the nickname “Manchester of India.”

2.2 Why does India also have a thriving jute belt around Kolkata?

India’s first jute mill was set up near Kolkata, at Rishra, in 1855. Most jute mills still sit along the Hugli river in West Bengal. That’s close to the jute-growing belt. After Partition in 1947, India kept its jute mills. But it lost about three-fourths of the jute-growing land, to what’s now Bangladesh. India remains the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods today. Bangladesh, though, still exports more of it.

3.1 What exactly does PM MITRA build, and where?

The PM MITRA Parks scheme follows the government’s “5F” vision. That’s Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign. Seven parks were approved in 2022. They’re spread across Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. They carry a ₹4,445 crore outlay through 2027-28. By December 2025, MoUs worth over ₹27,434 crore had already been signed.

3.2 How does the PLI Scheme actually work, and how has it changed?

The PLI Scheme for Textiles was approved in 2021, at ₹10,683 crore. It targets man-made fibre apparel, fabrics, and technical textiles. It pays incentives tied to actual production growth, not just investment. In October 2025, the government modified it to attract more investors. It added 17 new eligible product codes. It halved the minimum-investment threshold too. And it eased a key incentive rule. The incremental-turnover criterion dropped from 25% to 10%.

4.1 Why is India pushing so hard into synthetic and technical textiles now?

India has always been strong in cotton. But it has historically lagged rivals like China and Vietnam in man-made fibres. Pushing hard into synthetic and technical textiles reflects a deliberate strategic pivot. It’s not a random policy add-on. The “5F” vision behind it aims at full vertical integration. That means raw fibre all the way to finished export. It’s a much bigger ambition than simply expanding factory capacity.

4.2 What’s actually being built to support that pivot?

Under the National Technical Textiles Mission, 59 courses have launched at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Separately, 47 institutions have received ₹216.60 crore in combined grants. That money funds lab upgrades and faculty training. India’s own GI-certified handloom traditions get the fuller treatment in Handloom in India. Khadi’s own growth story is covered separately, in Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

5.1 What’s actually pushing textile exports higher, beyond just factories?

Export growth isn’t only about factory output. Duty-remission schemes RoSCTL and RoDTEP were extended to 30 September 2026. They refund embedded taxes on exports. Separately, 16 Free Trade Agreements are now in force. These include the India-UK CETA. An EU FTA has also been concluded. A New Zealand FTA has been signed. Textile and apparel exports, including handicrafts, reached ₹3,25,339 crore in FY 2025-26. That’s up 1.8% over the year before.

5.2 What’s happening with all the textile waste this industry generates?

India’s textile sector manages about 7.8 million tonnes of textile waste a year. Over 70% of it is already recovered, into recycling, upcycling, or reuse. That supports an estimated 40-45 lakh livelihoods. India’s textile recycling market is projected to reach $3.5 billion by 2030. Nearly 1 lakh new green jobs could come with it. That’s a genuine growth story, not just a compliance cost from waste rules.