Government plans first comprehensive textile sector survey in 2027

Textile survey to be conducted in 2027

• Government to launch a detailed textile sector survey in July 2027
• Survey to assess financial health, credit access, and export participation
• Findings to guide future policies on credit, exports, and job creation

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The government is planning to launch a comprehensive survey of the textile sector in 2027, aiming to build a detailed picture of the financial health, employment structure and market integration of one of India’s most labour-intensive industries, sources told Moneycontrol.

Unlike earlier exercises that focused largely on production or wages, the proposed survey is expected to go deeper into the financial ecosystem surrounding textile units. Officials said it will examine how firms access finance, whether they are able to obtain formal loans, how much they repay, and the extent to which they are integrated into the formal credit system. Export participation will also be tracked, allowing policymakers to assess how deeply textile enterprises are plugged into global value chains.

At present, official data on the sector is fragmented. The labour ministry tracks wages in textiles, but the last such survey was conducted in 2017. There is little systematic information on credit access, financial stress or export orientation across the vast and diverse textile landscape.

“Whether they get loans or not, how much they repay, their financial inclusion status, and whether they export—these are some of the things we want to understand. Textile is a labour-intensive sector,” an official familiar with the discussions said.

Given the fragmented nature of the textile industry, the statistics ministry has asked the textiles ministry to help develop a suitable sampling frame.

“There are different textile hubs across the country. The textiles ministry is studying what kind of frame they can supply so that we can go ahead and capture what they want,” the official added.

The survey is expected to run for a full year starting July 2027.

The survey comes at a time when policymakers are increasingly concerned about stress points in labour-intensive industries amid slowing global demand, rising competition from low-cost producers, tariff pressures and persistent worries over job creation.

The findings will likely feed into future policy decisions, including the design of credit guarantee schemes, export incentives, skilling programmes and cluster-based support.