The textile industry in India is the only industry that provides huge employment for both skilled and unskilled labour. This industry is paramount to strengthen the country’s core business. At the same time, it makes a great contribution to employment generation, next only to the Indian retail industry, which accounts for more than 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and approximately 8 per cent of the total employment.

The textile sector in India employs over 4.5 crore people directly and another 6 crore people in allied sectors, including women and rural population. The Indian textile industry is an important industry locally as well as globally. It has a huge significance in the global context and is considered as second largest industry in the production of fibre, yarn and fabric. India ranks fifth in the production of synthetic fibre.

The Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS) launched by the Government of India is being implemented for the textile industry with an outlay of ₹17,822 crore during 2016-2022 to attract investment of ₹1 lakh crore. This is expected to generate 35.62 lakh employment opportunities in the textile sector by 2022.

In addition to this scheme, with the latest implementation of the PLI scheme and its aim to attract investment of ₹19,000 crore for production of high value man-made fibre (MMF), fabrics, garments and technical textiles, the industry can positively contribute to the ecosystem.

Some of the key growth drivers of the industry have been foreign investments, growth of retail sector, private sector participation, and international demand for Indian cotton. The hike in FDI limit in multi brand retail is a blessing for textile industry and this has brought in more players and more consumer options. As we see international brands gaining domestic foothold, outsourcing is expected to rise exponentially. Growing population has been another vital factor contributing to the growth of employment in the sector.

As per the latest labour ministry survey on the holistic picture of the job scenario in India, apart from tech industry related jobs, job openings in nine key sectors including manufacturing, IT and financial services grew at an average annual pace of 3.42 per cent since 2014. The estimates that follow a survey of 10,900 establishments showed that these sectors, including manufacturing, technology, financial services and trade, employed 30.8 million people at the end of June 2021, up 29 per cent from 23.7 million at the end of March 2014, when the survey was last conducted.

Latest Govt. initiatives such as Skill India Mission, Skill Development Initiative, etc are going to consolidate the employment decisions and benefit in the development of the overall economy.

In a nutshell, strategic R&D, better product standards, collaborations and joint ventures, standards set by regulatory bodies, and government support for workplace safety-related initiatives will enable the manufacturers to deliver high-quality products. With technological advancements, the overall textile exports of India during FY 2015-2016 stood at $40 billion. The industry was expected to reach $223 billion by 2021. But due to the current pandemic situation, the demand for yarn and fabric remained muted throughout the first half of financial year 2020-21. The industry expects that with normalcy in revenue across the textile value chain and with various schemes like PLI by the government announced recently, a return and huge employment is expected by the second half of the financial year 2021-22.

The growing market holds tremendous potential of bringing more local manufacturers and self-help groups under the manufacturing workforce, paving path for a self-reliant economy, aligned with the vision of the Indian government.