The Government has undertaken several initiatives to promote textile recycling, adoption of recycling technologies and the transition towards a circular economy in the textile sector: i) In the Union Budget 2026–27, the Hon’ble Finance Minister announced the ‘Tex-Eco Initiative’ to promote a globally competitive and sustainable textiles and apparel sector. The initiative aims to support innovative technologies for the circular economy, including textile waste management, recycling and value addition, development of recycled fibres, new materials, sustainable packaging and other high-value products from discarded textiles, in collaboration with research institutions, Textile Research Associations, Centres of Excellence, industry, start-ups and other stakeholders. ii) The Ministry of Textiles has undertaken a study titled India's textile & apparel including handicrafts exports (Value in INR Crore) 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Export Value 249250 233304 331330 294289 297004 319573 325339 “Mapping of Textile Waste Value Chain in India”. The report estimates the generation of textile waste from pre-consumer sources such as manufacturing waste as well as post-consumer waste. iii) The Government has also constituted an Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Task Force to deliberate on sustainable production, certification and exports, besides facilitating industry centric programmes such as Circular Samvaad and the Cluster Exchange Mechanism. iv) The Government is also promoting textile recycling and sustainable manufacturing through policy support, research, innovation and capacity-building initiatives, including: • The UNIDO-Global Environment Facility (GEF) project on eliminating hazardous chemicals from the textile fashion supply chain; • The UNEP supported In-Tex India Project for Accelerating the Transition of the Indian Textile Sector towards Circularity using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Product Environmental Footprint (PEF); • Support for environmentally sustainable research and development under the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM); • Development of a sustainability framework for PM MITRA Parks; and • Promotion of upcycled products in Government procurement through an MoU among the Textiles Committee, Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) and Government e-Marketplace (GeM). These initiatives are sector-wide and are intended to facilitate technology adoption, research, innovation, sustainable manufacturing and circular economy practices across the textile value chain. Garment Exports India’s exports of textiles and apparel, including handicrafts, registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 4.5% during the period from 2019–20 to 2025–26, increasing from Rs. 2,49,250 crore in 2019–20 to Rs. 3,25,339 crore in 2025–26. The year-wise details of exports of textiles and ready-made garments including from 2019-20 to 2025-26 are mentioned below:The detail of export value from the major exporting States, is given below. Textile and readymade garments, including handicrafts, were exported from 548 districts across the country in 2025-26. The top ten textile and readymade garment exporting districts, including handicrafts, during 2025–26 were Tiruppur (Rs. 38,677 crore), Gautam Buddha Nagar (Rs. 21,095 crore), Bengaluru Urban (Rs. 16,205 crore), Gurugram (Rs. 15,104 crore), Mumbai (Rs. 12,479 crore), Panipat (Rs. 11,448 crore), Surat (Rs. 10,478 crore), Ahmedabad (Rs. 9,366 crore), Ludhiana (Rs. 7,099 crore) and Thane (Rs. 6,321 crore). (Source: DGCIS, Provisional Data (Rounded Off)) The Government remains engaged with various stakeholders, including Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) and industry associations, on assessment of the impact on competitiveness of the sector. Despite challenges, India’s exports of textiles and apparel, including handicrafts, stood at Rs. 3,25,339 Crore in 2025–26, registering a growth of 1.8 per cent over Rs. 3,19,573.2 Crore in 2024–25. Export growth was recorded in more than 100 destinations during the year (Source: DGCI&S). The Government has taken several measures to support the industry including temporary exemption from customs duty on import of Cotton falling under Customs Tariff Heading 5201 from 1 June to 31 Publication for Textile & Apparel Industry October 2026; the temporary exemption from customs duties on key inputs in the man-made fibre (MMF) value chain, including Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG); rationalisation of GST rates in the manmade fibre (MMF) value chain etc. a. on 31.03.2026, a total of 36,00,012 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) were registered and active on the Udyam Portal in the textile sector (NIC 2-digit codes 13 and 14) since the portals launch on 01.07.2020. During the period from 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2026, a total of 24,73,634 MSMEs were registered in the textile sector (NIC 2-digit codes 13 and 14) on the portal, while 7,894 MSME units were reported to have shut down due to various reasons during the same period. Thus, the number of MSMEs reported as shut down constitutes only around 0.32% of the total MSMEs registered during the last three years. State-wise details of MSMEs in the textiles sector reported as shut down and the corresponding impact on employment as reported on the Udyam Registration Portal during the period from 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2026, are given below. In order to facilitate the Indian Textile Industry to become globally competitive using environmentally friendly processing standards and technology, the Ministry implemented Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) upto 31.03.2021; however, the Scheme has now been subsumed under the umbrella Scheme of Textile Cluster Development Scheme (TCDS) for completing ongoing projects only. Under the scheme, 50 projects have been sanctioned of which 33 projects have successfully been completed. Further, in order to facilitate the textile industry to meet the required environmental standards and to support new Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP)/ upgradation of CETPs in existing processing clusters as well as new processing parks specially in the Coastal Zones, the Ministry implemented Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) upto 31.03.2021; however, the Scheme is now being implemented for completing ongoing projects only. The details of fund utilisation under SITP and CPCDS component of TCDS and IPDS are given below.In addition, Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) was launched in January 2016 which was valid till 31st March, 2022. Currently only committed liabilities are being cleared under ATUFS for UIDs generated till 31.03.2022. During the period from 2016-17 to 2025-26, under the scheme (ATUFS), an expenditure of Rs. 8611.82 Crore has been incurred. The Government has undertaken several initiatives to help textile units meet international quality, environmental and sustainability standards, including the >> 35 << 33 Tex-Eco Initiative announced in the Union Budget 2026-27 to promote circular economy technologies and textile waste.