“Environmental, social and governance Task Force in the Textiles sector soon dedicated to Sustainability”- Union Minister Piyush Goyal

An ESG (environmental, social and governance) Task Force in the Textiles sector will be created keeping in mind India’s commitment towards sustainability, said Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Commerce and Industry during soft launch of e-commerce website of Ministry of Textiles dedicated to handloom and handicrafts in Rajkot, Gujarat today. The event was a part of ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’ in which Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel also participated.

During two days event in Somnath and Rajkot, the Union Minister attended the Chintan Shivir in which along with officers from the Ministry of Textiles, deliberations on various aspects of the sector was done.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal said there has been fruitful discussions for making textile sector more vibrant. He added that the some of the manufacturers & exporters are ensuring twice the value upon receiving Environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance certification. Efforts are being made to ensure this certification for more manufacturers & exporters.

He also talked about the export target of USD 100 Billion for textile sector by 2030 and overall target of USD 250 Billion for textile sector by 2030.

He said that five commitments of Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi also includes that we have to go back to our roots to progress with confidence. He said that both Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are connected with history and culture but are also connected due to having strong traditional and modern Textile sector.

He said that due to strong belief of PM in ‘Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat’, ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’ is being organized in Gujarat. A large number of women from Tamil Nadu reached the state. He said that he interacted with them and found that they were excited and joyous. The Union Minister said that it reflects that the cultural heritage of our country is in Unity. He said that ‘Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’ is an effort to unify India.

Shri Goyal said that the two days Chintan Shivir various subjects related to Textiles sector like Technical Textile, Cotton Textile, Sustainability, how to increase and better production of farmers, how to better branding of cotton were discussed.

During the ‘Textiles Conclave’ held under the aegis of Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi during 14th-15th December, chaired by Hon’ble Minister of Textiles, it was decided to constitute a Textile Advisory Group- an informal body- to deliberate and recommend on the issues pertaining to the development and expansion of MMF value chain.

Accordingly, the TAG on MMF was constituted vide Ministry of Textiles’ OM dated 17th January 2023.

TAG comprises stakeholders of MMF value chain including:

Industry Associations including Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (ASFI), Association of Man-Made fibre industry of India (AMFIl),Chemicals& Petro Chemicals Manufactures Association(CPMA)
User Industry representatives including Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA), Indian Spinners Association (SIMA)
Textiles Export Promotion Councils includingSynthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council(SRTEPC) &Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC)
Leading domestic manufacturers’/ exporters & users and representatives of Government ministries/ departments.


The first meeting of TAG on MMF was held on 14th February 2023 under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister of Textiles.

The TAG on MMF deliberated upon the concerns of the industry stakeholders’ including:

Anti-dumping duty (ADD) on Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF)
Enforcement of QCO for Polyester value chain viz. Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), Monoethylene Glycol (MEG), Polyester fibre and yarn to curb cheap and non-essential imports
Pricing of Manmade Fibre
Notably, the total export of MMF based textiles and apparels of India in FY 2022-23 was USD 8,465 Million and exhibited a de-growth of (-) 11% over the preceding financial year.

Source: DGCI&S ((*) Data Provisional)

1. Textiles & Apparel export scenario of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu

Overview of textiles industry of Gujarat

• Gujarat state has established itself as the “Textile State of India”. Gujarat’s exports of textiles and apparel in FY 2021-22 was US$7.36 Bn and showed substantial growth of 45% over the preceding year (US$5.08 Bn in the 2020-21).
• Gujarat has the presence of the entire textiles and apparel (T&A) value chain, starting from availability of raw material, yam production, fabric production, up to apparel and made-ups manufacturing units.
• Almost 30 per cent of India’s mill sector production of fabric comes from Gujarat. Gujarat also has significant number of medium and large textile processing houses.

Overview of textiles industry of Tamil Nadu

• Tamil Nadu has share of 20% of total T&A export including Handicraft from India for FY 2021-22.
• RMG export from Tamil Nadu makes up around 33% of the total T&A export including handicraft from India for FY 2021-22
• Cotton Textile export from Tamil Nadu makes up around 17% of the total T&A export including handicraft from India for FY 2021-22
• RMG Export from Tamil Nadu has grown by 34% in FY 21-22 compared by FY 20-21
• RMG export makes up around 61% of the total Export of T&A including handicraft from Tamil Nadu as per Export Data of FY 2021-22

2. Status of QCOs

• QCO on Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF) came into force w.e.f. 29^th March 2023
• QCO on Polyester Staple Fibres (PSF)came into force w.e.f 3^rd April 2023
• Enforcement date of QCOs on Polyester Continuous Filament Fully Drawn Yarn (IS:17261:2022), Polyester Partially Oriented Yarns (IS:17262:2022), Polyester Industrial Yarn (17264:2022) and 100 Percent Polyester Spun Grey and White Yarn (IS:17265:2022) extended by 3 months i.e. Upto 3^rd July 2023
• Enforcement date of QCOs on PTA- Terephthalic Acid and MEG-Ethylene Glycol  extended by 3 months i.e. upto 22^nd June 2023 & 28^th June 2023 respectively
• QCOs for 31 items of technical textiles consisting of 19 Geo Textiles and 12 Protective Textiles have been notified in gazette of India on 10th April 2023. The QCOs shall come into force on the 180 days its publication in the Official Gazette.

During a meeting on Technical Textiles the way forward as discussed were

1. Research and Innovation – Quality research proposals in Technical Textiles/ development sustainable products/ practices needed- Funds available in NTTM
2. Skill Development – Industry to take advantage of SAMARTH and NTTM. Identification of Skilling needs in new areas
3. Indigenous development of Textile Machinery – Large imports, need indegenisation
4. Quality- Quality Control Orders are need of hour, industry to adopt.
5. Demand generation- Mandation of products by Line Ministries e.g. Fire Resistant (FR) in Public Buildings
6. Training program on textile clusters for transition of conventional textile industry to technical textiles.