Minister outlines government’s ‘5F’ strategy to reform India’s textile industry

The Ministry has set a target of $350 billion by 2030, with the textile industry’s total market size estimated at around $165 billion.

Pabitra Margherita, Minister of State for Textiles, highlighted the Government’s unwavering commitment to equipping India’s youth with the knowledge and resources necessary to guide the country toward a Viksit Bharat.

At a news conference in New Delhi, the Minister stressed that skill development is a priority for the Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that it is essential for India’s progress. He also outlined the measures being taken to establish a $30 trillion GDP.

The Minister further drew attention to the Ministry of Textiles’ initiatives, including the SAMARTH Scheme, which aims to enhance the employability and productivity of candidates to meet the demands of the evolving textile industry.

Through the SAMARTH Scheme, the Ministry promotes skill development by offering premium looms and yarns at discounted rates. On skill development, he mentioned that the Ministry is making significant efforts through the Samarth Yojana, with 3.48 lakh beneficiaries having received training—79 per cent of whom have been placed. In total, 3.6 lakh women have been trained, with 88 per cent of the beneficiaries of the Samarth Program being women. Additionally, 26 per cent of them, or 90,320, belong to the Scheduled Caste, and 12 per cent, or 42,857, are from the ST group.

The MoS also emphasised the National Technical Textile Mission and the award for research and entrepreneurship aimed at fostering potential innovators in technical textiles. The Ministry encourages startups to engage in research and take initiative in the technical textiles field.

The Ministry is also focusing on start-up projects for producing technical textiles. It has approved $741,000 for 12 such initiatives. The Minister also underscored the importance of the five “Fs”—farmer, fibre, factor, fashion, and foreign.”

According to Pabitra Margherita, the textile sector currently employs about 40.5 million people, making it the second-largest employer after agriculture. He mentioned that the Ministry of Textiles aims to increase this number to 100 million by 2030. Additionally, the Ministry has set a target of $350 billion by 2030, with the textile industry’s total market size estimated at around $165 billion.