India's technical-textile imports rise 17% annually despite policy

India's technical-textile imports rose at a 17.1% compound annual growth rate from FY 2021 to FY 2025, reaching Rs 927.1 crore under HS code 5911. The increase from Rs 494.5 crore shows that demand for specialised technical-use textile products continued to exceed domestic capability despite import-substitution measures.

What is driving India's technical-textile imports?

India's technical-textile imports are rising because industrial users need high-performance materials that domestic producers do not yet make at sufficient scale or with consistent specifications. HS code 5911 covers textile products and articles for technical uses specified in Chapter 59 Note 8, and serves applications including automotive manufacturing, industrial filtration, medical and hygiene products, and protective clothing.

Import value increased by Rs 432.6 crore between FY 2021 and FY 2025, while the source reports that import volumes fluctuated, with notable peaks in FY 2022 and FY 2024. The steadier increase in value indicates a shift towards higher-grade and more technologically advanced products, rather than a uniform increase in physical quantities. The report identifies limited technical capability, inconsistent quality standards and insufficient domestic cost competitiveness as reasons for continued overseas sourcing.

The FY 2025 import total of Rs 927.1 crore also exceeded exports of the same HS 5911 category, which were Rs 706.7 crore in FY 2025, by Rs 220.4 crore. India exported Rs 275.9 crore in FY 2021, so both trade flows expanded over four financial years, but imports remained larger in FY 2025. This gap is consistent with demand for specialty materials used in advanced industrial applications.

Specialty fibres account for about 30% of the technical-textile segment, according to Ministry of Textiles and Invest India figures cited in the report. Carbon fibre, aramids including meta-aramid and para-aramid, Nylon-66, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, or UHMWPE, are cited as critical inputs with limited domestic manufacturing. Dependence on these inputs exposes domestic users to foreign-exchange movements, landed-cost changes and supply-chain disruptions.

How concentrated are India's technical-textile imports by supplier?

India's technical-textile imports are concentrated among five supplier countries that accounted for nearly two-thirds of FY 2025 import value. China supplied Rs 349.8 crore, around 38% of the Rs 927.1 crore total, while Germany, the United States, South Korea and Italy supplied the next four largest amounts.

China's position reflects large-scale production, broad product availability, integrated supply chains and shorter lead times. Germany's Rs 75.5 crore of supply is associated with precision-engineered materials for applications requiring durability, chemical resistance and compliance with safety and environmental requirements, including automotive components and filtration systems.

The United States supplied Rs 69.8 crore of products for healthcare, aerospace and defence-related applications, including nonwovens, high-strength composites and barrier fabrics. South Korea's Rs 49.5 crore supply reflects capabilities in smart textiles, synthetic fibres and filtration fabrics, while Italy supplied Rs 48.9 crore of engineered textiles for areas including automotive interiors and niche construction materials. Replacing imports therefore requires domestic capacity across different price points, technologies and performance requirements.

Which policies are intended to reduce India's technical-textile imports?

India's technical-textile imports are addressed by production incentives, quality controls and research programmes designed to expand domestic manufacturing. The Production-Linked Incentive Scheme for Technical Textiles, Make in India and the National Technical Textiles Mission, or NTTM, seek to build local capacity and promote indigenous specialty-fibre production under Atmanirbhar Bharat. The report says capability gaps will nevertheless continue to drive imports in the short to medium term.

Quality Control Orders, or QCOs, require specified technical-textile products to meet prescribed safety, reliability and performance standards. Imported products covered by a QCO must obtain Bureau of Indian Standards certification, which can add compliance costs and lead time for foreign suppliers. Import substitution depends on whether domestic producers can meet the same standards at the volumes required by industrial buyers.

Trade measures can also lower the cost of imported products. Basic Customs Duty, Integrated Goods and Services Tax, or IGST, and other charges affect landed costs by product classification, while free-trade agreements with Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries, South Korea under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and Japan provide tariff concessions. Faceless assessment, the ICEGATE customs portal and single-window clearance are intended to reduce administrative bottlenecks and dwell time for imported materials.

What prevents faster technical-textile import substitution?

India's technical-textile imports persist because specialised machinery, testing capacity, research commercialisation and skilled labour remain constrained. Many domestic manufacturers use conventional spinning and processing equipment that is not suitable for conductive, flame-retardant, antimicrobial or bio-based yarns. High capital requirements and limited domestic production of specialised equipment restrict scale-up in high-performance products.

The Ministry of Textiles approved 20 mission-mode research and development projects worth Rs 610.9 crore in June 2023, followed by 18 projects worth Rs 467.4 crore in September 2023. The 38 projects cover geotextiles, protective textiles, industrial textiles, smart and electronic textiles, medical textiles, carbon fibre and UHMWPE. The report identifies insufficient private-sector investment, limited pilot-scale testing and weak industry-academia links as obstacles to converting research into commercial products.

Workforce capacity is also incomplete. More than 3.48 lakh individuals had been trained under the Samarth Scheme by 2023, but the report says most training was for conventional textile roles rather than technical-textile work. NTTM has partnered with the Northern India Textile Research Association, the Synthetic and Art Silk Mills' Research Association and Indian Institutes of Technology to develop specialised curricula, although implementation is described as slow.

Testing infrastructure adds a further constraint because laboratories accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories for specialised tests are limited and unevenly distributed. Fire resistance, tensile strength, antimicrobial efficacy and ultraviolet protection require validated testing before products can serve regulated industries. Domestic substitutes must therefore satisfy testing, certification, machinery and skills requirements as well as match imported products' application-specific performance.

Conclusion

India's technical-textile imports rose from Rs 494.5 crore in FY 2021 to Rs 927.1 crore in FY 2025 because industrial, healthcare, automotive and protective applications required products not consistently made domestically at scale. China accounted for around 38% of FY 2025 imports, while the other leading suppliers show that reliance spans both volume-oriented and specialised materials.

The next measure of progress is whether NTTM research projects, production incentives, QCO compliance and specialty-fibre investment produce domestic output that meets required standards. The report forecasts that India's technical-textile industry will grow from USD 28.5 billion in FY 2025 to USD 50 billion by FY 2030, making the expansion of machinery, testing, skills and commercialisation capacity central to reducing import dependence.