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The textile, apparel, footwear and leather sectors got a boost in the Union Budget with the announcement of a Mission on Cotton and a focus product scheme for the footwear and leather sector.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the focus product scheme would enhance the productivity, quality and competitiveness of the footwear and leather sector as it would support design capacity, component manufacturing, and machinery requirement for production of non-leather footwear and leather footwear and other products. It would generate a turnover of ₹4 lakh crore and export of more than ₹1.1 lakh core, generating employment for 22 lakh people.
Watch: Union Budget 2025 | What’s in it for textile, apparel, footwear and leather sectors?
The Mission for Cotton Productivity is one of the major demands of the textile industry. The five-year mission will focus on improving productivity and sustainability of cotton farming. It will promote cultivation of extra-long staple cotton varieties. “The best of science and technology support will be provided to farmers. Aligned with our integrated 5 F vision for the textile sector, this will help increase income of the farmers and ensure a steady supply of quality cotton for rejuvenating India’s traditional textile sector,” the Finance Minister said.
Read More: Union Budget 2025 LIVE updates
Sustainable toys
In an effort to make India a global hub for toys, a scheme would be launched to develop toy clusters, skills, and manufacturing eco system that would promote production of “Made in India” sustainable and innovative toys.
Technical textile production, including agro, medical and geo textiles, would be supported with the removal of Basic Customs Duty on two types of shuttleless looms used to make these products. In a major relief to the garment sector, the Basic Customs Duty on knitted fabrics, covering nine tariff lines, would be increased from “10% or 20%” to “20% or ₹115 per kg, whichever is higher”.
The total allocation for textiles sector saw 57.7 % increase to almost ₹5,272 crore for 2025-2026 from ₹3,342 crore in the revised estimate for 2024-2025. Jute and technology upgradation schemes have seen significant increase in allocation and the Production Linked Incentive Scheme has been allocated ₹1,148 crore.
Welcoming the announcements for the textile sector, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry hoped the government would soon relax the Quality Control Orders too.
Published – February 01, 2025 11:52 am IST
