India has launched an initiative to help small industries adopt sustainable and efficient textile technologies. This initiative called Saathi is expected to benefit the almost 25 lakh powerloom units in the country which produce 57 per cent of the total cloth in the country. The use of efficient equipment would result in energy savings and cost savings to the unit owner who would in turn repay in installments to Energy Efficient Services over a four to five year period.

The provision to repay in installments is a novel idea as it will not cast undue burden on small power loom owners since they will not be required to incur any additional capital expenditure. This initiative is a step in the right direction as there is enormous scope for increasing the production and exports of fabrics from India in view of the abundant availability of raw materials and technical skills in the country. Exports of fabrics can be increased substantially if they are treated on par with garments and made-ups in terms of incentives.

However, despite these advantages, and even though weaving capacity has increased by 12 per cent over the last seven years, woven fabric production has decreased by 3.58 per cent as fabric export has become uncompetitive due to various added costs, non-refund of state levies and duty free access enjoyed by countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam in the EU market.