Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Government of India, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 on February 1, 2025 in Parliament.
Here are the key highlights of her budget speech for textile sector, there will be boost for growth and exports.
- Budget announces INR5272 crores for the Ministry of Textiles for the FY 2025-26
- Increased Support for MSMEs: Textile MSMEs will get better credit access and infrastructure support to strengthen domestic and export markets. Budget thrust on export, enhanced credit and coverage will uplift textile MSMEs.
- Incentives and Promotions for Technical Textiles: Focus on innovation-driven textiles such as medical, industrial, and sustainable fabrics, boost Make in India in technical textile sector viz. agro textiles, medical textiles, and geo-textiles.
- PLI Scheme Expansion: Increased allocation for the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to boost textile manufacturing and exports.
- Reduced Import Duties on Raw Materials: This will help textile manufacturers lower production costs and improve global competitiveness.
- Five-Year Cotton Mission: Aimed at addressing stagnant cotton productivity, especially for extra-long staple varieties. Inclusion of enhancing Extra Long Staple (ELS) Cotton Productivity in the five-year Cotton mission in the Union Budget will foster production of superior quality raw material for the textile industry, strengthen India’s traditional textile sector, boost exports and reduce dependency on imports.
- Facilitation of Handicraft Exports
- Increase in Custom Duty on Knitted Fabrics
- The Budget aims to accelerate economic growth through Agriculture, it will facilitate significant improvements in productivity and sustainability of cotton farming, it will help increase the income of farmers and ensure a steady supply of quality cotton for India’s textile sector.
- 2 types of shuttle-less looms to the list of fully exempted textile machinery.
- Nine items including wool polish materials, Sea shell, Mother of Pearl (MOP), Cattle horn etc. added to the list of duty-free inputs
- Other announcements like creation of National Manufacturing Mission, Export Promotion Mission, creating the Bharat Trade Net, Fund of Funds, Measures for Labour-Intensive Sectors to promote employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, revision in classification criteria for MSMEs and others will create conducive environment for the textile sector.
- TDS/TCS Rationalization Measures in Budget 2025
- GST Amendments for trade facilitation
- Enhancing Credit Access for MSMEs and Startups
The budget offers a balanced approach and support to manufacturing, infrastructure and sustainability while promoting global competitiveness, it also focus on increasing farmers’ income, this budget is expected to provide a significant impetus to India’s textile industry.
