The textiles sector remains a strong pillar of our economy, contributing 2.3% to GDP, 13% to industrial production, and 12% to exports. As India’s second-largest employer after agriculture, it provides direct livelihoods to 45 million people and sustains over 100 million indirectly.
For centuries, India’s identity was deeply woven into its textiles, from the lasting warmth of Kashmir’s Pashmina and the golden luster of Assam’s Muga silk, to the royal Kanjeevarams of Tamil Nadu, the weaves of Chanderi, and the legendary textile craftsmanship of Surat. Today, this sector remains a strong pillar of our economy, contributing 2.3% to GDP, 13% to industrial production, and 12% to exports. As India’s second-largest employer after agriculture, it provides direct livelihoods to 45 million people and sustains over 100 million indirectly, strengthening rural communities and driving financial autonomy for millions of women nationwide.
In contrast to the consolidated ecosystems of global competitors, India’s textile value chain historically evolved into a geographically dispersed model. Spinning, weaving, processing, garmenting, and export activities developed independently across different states, meaning a single garment often crossed multiple borders during production. This fragmented footprint created structural barriers. It suppressed scale-up, modernisation, automation and ultimately labor productivity.
Compounding this is the high logistics burden caused by multi-modal connectivity gaps. Every hand-off between scattered production stages incurs extra handling and freight charges. Multi-stage long-distance transshipments swell cumulative logistics costs and destroy “speed to market” which is a fatal disadvantage in modern retail’s high-frequency ordering cycles.
Consider the environmental imperative. Textiles account for 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of industrial water pollution. Enforcing regulations and sustainable effluent management across thousands of scattered, tiny units was historically a major administrative challenge.
To systematically dismantle these barriers, the Central Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme in October 2021, supported by a ₹4,445 crore budgetary outlay.This pivotal intervention introduces a holistic model where the Central Government drives development in absolute unison with State Governments, industry players, and private partners.
At the heart of this scheme lies the visionary 5F formula of Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign, championed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. This philosophy directly addresses what distinguishes India on the global stage: our complete and incredibly diverse value chain. Unlike global peers relying strictly on raw material imports or final garment assembly, India participates in the entire lifecycle of textile creation, from fields of our farmers to high-fashion runways. Because of this unique depth, our growth strategy must uniquely balance global competitiveness with absolute social equity. While scaling up, we must carefully protect the welfare of every sector so that from the humble grower and rural weaver to the apparel exporter, no one is left behind. The PM MITRA framework achieves this equilibrium.
Strategically locating these parks near major raw material hubs minimises transport costs and ensures an unhindered supply for manufacturing. More importantly, this proximity enables strict end-to-end traceability. As global brands mandate organic or sustainable certifications, these integrated parks provide a verifiable chain of custody, satisfying stringent global ESG norms and hence paving a path for commanding premium pricing abroad.
Co-locating spinning, weaving, processing, and garmenting within contiguous 1,000+ acre parcels eliminates multi-state transshipments, drastically slashing freight costs and transport emissions while accelerating speed to market. Aligned with national logistics corridors like Dedicated Freight Corridors and expressways, the journey to foreign markets becomes highly cost-effective. Every park features plug-and-play industrial infrastructure including dedicated power substations, continuous water supply, and ready-to-move-in factory sheds alongside common facilities like advanced Common Effluent Treatment Plants utilizing Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology, and modern amenities, shifting the infrastructure burden away from businesses and improving our ease of doing business.
PM MITRA Parks are transitioning rapidly from blueprints to ground realities. The scheme comprises seven strategic parks: five Greenfield developments in Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu), Navsari (Gujarat), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Dhar (Madhya Pradesh), and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), alongside two Brownfield developments in Warangal (Telangana) and Amravati (Maharashtra). To date, the scheme has captured over ₹69,899 crore in total investment interest, with ₹27,658 crore already grounded.
On May 10, 2026, Hon’ble Prime Minister inaugurated the first operational PM MITRA Park at Warangal, Telangana. This park has already witnessed ₹3,862 crore in grounded investments and operationalizes world-class eco-infrastructure, features that represent the sustainability standards being established across all seven park sites.
Parallel nationwide execution highlights swift cooperative federalism with MoUs signed with all seven states, 100% of the land acquisition done, and environmental clearances secured. For the five Greenfield sites, JV agreements and SPVs are fully incorporated, anchoring rapid physical progress. Dhar (Madhya Pradesh), the largest park at 2,158 acres, has drawn ₹21,436.9 crore in investment interest, mirroring strong momentum across Gujarat (₹13,084 crore), Maharashtra (₹12,925 crore), Tamil Nadu (₹6,600 crore), Uttar Pradesh (₹5,345.8 crore), and Karnataka (₹1,700 crore). This effective execution is a testament to the proactive leadership of Union Minister of Textiles, Shri Giriraj Singh. Under his able leadership the Textiles Ministry has successfully accelerated its operational frameworks, cutting through administrative bottlenecks and fostering an unprecedented level of cooperative synergy with state governments.
But numbers only tell a part of the story, the real measure lies in human impact. Each park is structurally engineered and expected to generate approximately 3 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities. Across all seven sites, this translates to over 21 lakh formal livelihoods, offering a major socio-economic lift to our rural households and women, who traditionally form the backbone of apparel manufacturing.
This large-scale infrastructure effort serves as the definitive launchpad for the textile sector’s ambitious Vision 2030 for scaling India’s textile industry into a $350 billion global powerhouse by the end of this decade. By replacing historical fragmentation with world-class, integrated scale, PM MITRA is executing a profound structural shift. Guided by a strong leadership, we are transitioning India into the undisputed, sustainable, and highly competitive epicenter of textiles.
The author is the Union Minister of State for Textiles. Views are personal.
