{"id":85167,"date":"2026-09-19T17:44:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T12:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=85167"},"modified":"2026-09-19T17:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T12:17:31","slug":"melting-of-glaciers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/19-09-2026\/melting-of-glaciers-2","title":{"rendered":"From Fibre to Future: Weaving Sustainability Into India&#8217;s Textile Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-07-2026\/sustainable-india-textiles\"><strong>India\u2019s textile sector<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>is targeting a <strong>$350 billion industry by 2030<\/strong>, making sustainability central to export competitiveness, market access, resource efficiency and responsible employment-led growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About India\u2019s Textile Sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-06-2026\/textile-industry-india\">India\u2019s textile<\/a> and apparel sector spans <strong>fibre, yarn, fabric, processing, apparel, technical textiles and made-ups<\/strong>, directly supporting <strong>over 49 million livelihoods<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Its domestic market is valued at around <strong>$196 billion<\/strong>, projected to reach <strong>$250 billion by 2030<\/strong>, while textile exports are targeted at <strong>$100 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"98bdd3\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #98bdd3;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"602\" height=\"246\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-161.png\" alt=\"melting of glaciers\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-85168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-161.png 602w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-161-300x123.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>PM Modi\u2019s vision of <strong>\u2018Fashion for Environment and Empowerment\u2019<\/strong> reflects the emerging approach: <strong>sustainability is increasingly a component of industrial competitiveness<\/strong> rather than merely an environmental obligation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Climate Commitments<\/strong> i.e. 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, 50% of energy requirements from renewables and net-zero emissions by 2070 reinforce the transition towards low-carbon textile production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns &amp; Issues in India\u2019s Textile Sector<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sustainability: <\/strong>Textile processing is resource-intensive, particularly in water, energy and chemicals. Global brands increasingly demand sustainable supply chains.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Export markets are tightening requirements on <strong>recycled content, traceability, chemicals, water and energy use<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Textile Waste:<\/strong> A 2026 Ministry study covering <strong>15 states and more than 250 stakeholder interactions<\/strong> estimated annual textile waste at <strong>70.73 lakh tonnes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Post-consumer Waste Gap:<\/strong> Post-consumer textile waste remains inadequately collected, segregated and recycled. While over <strong>70% of textile waste is recovered<\/strong>, and pre-consumer waste recovery exceeds <strong>95%<\/strong>, collection, segregation and economically viable recovery of post-consumer waste remain weaker.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>MSME Constraints:<\/strong> Smaller units often face limited access to green technologies, finance, technical expertise and reliable sustainability data.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Compliance:<\/strong> Export markets increasingly demand traceability, recycled content, chemical safety and lower water, energy and carbon footprints.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Blended Textiles:<\/strong> Mixed fibres and non-recyclable materials make fibre recovery technologically and economically difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Advantages with India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India possesses a substantial manufacturing base, diverse raw materials, technical capabilities and an established recycling ecosystem.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Circularity also has deep cultural roots through practices such as <strong>rafugari, kantha, godhadis, chindi durries and khesh weaving<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The textile recycling market could reach about <strong>$3.5 billion by 2030<\/strong>, potentially generating around <strong>one lakh green jobs<\/strong> across collection, sorting, recycling, repair and upcycling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Related Key Efforts &amp; Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Circular Economy &amp; Waste Management: <\/strong>Textile Recovery Facilities are being piloted in cities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In <strong>Navi Mumbai<\/strong>, a pilot diverted more than <strong>3,323 kg<\/strong> of textile waste from landfill\/incineration, reaching more than <strong>12,000 families<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>31 upcyclers<\/strong> have been certified under the Upcycled Textile Mark; <strong>27 categories and 40 products<\/strong> are live on GeM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cleaner Production: <\/strong>A programme with <strong>UNIDO, GEF and partners<\/strong> targets reduction of <strong>10,530 tonnes of toxic chemicals directly and 21,000 tonnes indirectly<\/strong>, besides mitigating <strong>147,000 tonnes CO\u2082 equivalent directly and 294,000 tonnes indirectly<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is expected to directly reach <strong>40,000 people, 60% women<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PM MITRA: <\/strong>The <strong>seven PM MITRA parks<\/strong>, with expected investment of about <strong>$10 billion<\/strong>, envisage integrated water, wastewater and common-processing infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Technical Textiles Mission:<\/strong> It supports waste-to-fibre technologies, while IIT Delhi\u2019s Panipat campus researches recycling of materials such as <strong>aramid fibre waste<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other Related Efforts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>ESG Task Force<\/strong> works on certification, cluster-level handholding, capacity building, sustainable fashion technology, AI and digital traceability.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>EU-India Resource Efficiency &amp; Circular Economy Initiative (EU-I RECEI) <\/strong>has supported textile-waste assessment, a <strong>Tamil Nadu circular-economy roadmap<\/strong>, a <strong>Panipat MSME toolkit<\/strong> and SOPs for Textile Recovery Facilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tex-Eco Initiative:<\/strong> It was proposed in <strong>Union Budget 2026\u201327<\/strong> integrates sustainability into textile growth <strong>through four pillars:<\/strong> resource recovery and recycling; water stewardship and decarbonisation; institutional capacity; and innovation and digitalisation.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It proposes an <strong>India Sustainability Mark<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India needs to move from pilots to <strong>scalable, measurable and market-linked solutions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Priorities should include stronger post-consumer collection, reverse logistics, recycling of blended fibres, affordable green finance for MSMEs, renewable energy, cleaner chemicals, ZLD systems and credible ESG traceability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The objective should be a <strong>just transition<\/strong>, combining environmental gains with worker welfare, formalisation and green employment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sustainability, therefore, need not constrain textile growth; it can improve <strong>resource productivity, export-market access, innovation and resilience<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Daily Mains Practice Question<\/strong><br><strong>[Q] <\/strong>Discuss the major challenges to making India\u2019s textile growth sustainable and examine the role of circular economy, green technologies and MSME-focused policy interventions in enhancing the sector\u2019s global competitiveness.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindubusinessline.com\/opinion\/from-fibre-to-future-weaving-sustainability-into-indias-textile-growth\/article71480499.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source: BL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Published on:<\/strong> 19 September, 2026<\/p>\n<p> India\u2019s textile sector is targeting a $350 billion industry by 2030, making sustainability central to export competitiveness, market access, resource efficiency and responsible employment-led growth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":85172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/09\/melting-of-glaciers.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85171,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85167\/revisions\/85171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}