Santoni China Group is set to debut an integrated circular knitting ecosystem under the theme ‘Machines Evolved · Intelligence Delivered,’ at the ITM 2026 exhibition in Istanbul, from June 9–13. This initiative marks a definitive transition from standalone machinery to a unified production environment. By consolidating flagship brands - including Terrot, Jingmei, and Santoni (Shanghai) - into a single technological stack, the group addresses the industry's shift toward high-performance technical textiles. The showcase centers on high-precision double-knit and interlock applications, critical for the global athleisure sector, which is projected to reach $600 billion by 203Santoni China Group.

Digital intelligence and component precision

A cornerstone of the 2026 strategy is the Santoni Knitting Industrial Internet Platform (KIIP). This digital infrastructure enables real-time production monitoring and data-driven process optimization, effectively closing the gap between hardware and operational intelligence. Complementing this is the integration of SMC/Qiguan cylinder manufacturing, which combines German engineering with localized production to ensure mechanical compatibility across diverse knitting platforms. This synergy is designed to help manufacturers navigate a global circular knitting machine market expected to grow at a 3.4 per cent CAGR, reaching $2.9 billion by 2034.

Optimizing complex fabric structures

Technological highlights at the booth include the Terrot I3P 196-F BW, engineered for sophisticated double-face fabrics that integrate synthetic yarns for superior moisture management and shape retention. Additionally, the Jingmei JTB-P platform will demonstrate specialized 5-layer fabric capabilities, catering to the rising demand for technical outerwear and protective textiles. By focusing on ‘open width’ technologies and high-feeder counts, Santoni aims to reduce typical cycle times by 15–20 per cent, providing a strategic advantage as regional manufacturing hubs in Turkey and South Asia move toward high-value, sustainable production models.

A global knitting leader

Santoni China Group is a premier provider of circular and seamless knitting solutions, managing a portfolio of heritage and high-growth brands like Terrot and Jingmei. With a strong focus on R&D and digital intelligence (KIIP), the group serves international markets from athletic wear to medical textiles. Its 2026 roadmap prioritizes the deployment of intelligent manufacturing ecosystems across key textile clusters in Europe and Asia.

The Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) has transitioned into a new phase of industrial scaling with the inauguration of the Rupaheli Textile Park in Bhilwara.

Developed with a sanctioned capital outlay of Rs 221 crore, the park spans 209 hectare and offers 275 industrial plots. This strategic infrastructure project is designed to consolidate the entire textile value chain - from spinning and weaving to advanced garmenting - within a single high-tech ecosystem. By securing environmental clearance and initiating the 10th phase of its direct allotment scheme, RIICO is facilitating immediate entry for investors who executed MoUs during the Rising Rajasthan summit.

Incentivizing value addition under the 2025 sectoral policy

The park’s operationalization coincides with the rollout of the Rajasthan Textile and Apparel Policy 2025, which provides a robust framework for financial sustainability. Investors can leverage substantial fiscal benefits, including asset creation support for 10 years, electricity duty exemptions, and a 50 per cent reimbursement for employee training costs. The corporation aims to move beyond raw fabric production toward high-value apparel manufacturing, states a senior RIICO official. This shift is critical as the domestic technical textile market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.3 per cent, reaching an estimated valuation of $8.4 billion by 2025-end.

Navigating market volatility and modernization challenges

Despite Bhilwara’s established reputation as a synthetic hub, the cluster faces pressure from rising raw material costs and the global demand for sustainable fibers. To address this, the Rupaheli Park integrates green solution incentives for eco-friendly projects and state-of-the-art power infrastructure. The regional sector currently contributes significantly to India’s textile exports, which grew by 10 per cent Y-o-Y in the first half of the current fiscal. However, the success of this new hub depends on the effective execution of Rajasthan’s Rs 1,200 crore industrial upgrade plan, intended to elevate infrastructure standards across the state’s 450+ industrial areas.

Strategic textile evolution

RIICO is Rajasthan’s apex investment agency, transforming Bhilwara into a global synthetics and technical textiles leader. Managing over 450 industrial zones, it currently focuses on high-value garmenting and export-oriented units. With a planned ₹1,200 crore infrastructure upgrade for 2026-27, RIICO aims to position Rajasthan as India's premier apparel manufacturing destination.

As Bangladesh nears its official graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status in November 2026, the Intex Bangladesh 2026 exhibition, scheduled for June 18–20 at the ICCB in Dhaka, has emerged as a critical platform for industrial recalibration. The event arrives as the nation’s apparel sector - valued at over $45 billion in annual exports - transitions from high-volume manufacturing to a value-added, circular model. To maintain duty-free access to the EU market via GSP Plus, local manufacturers are seeking global partners for bio-based materials and recycled fibers, moving beyond traditional cotton toward man-made fibers (MMF) and technical textiles.

Collaborative ecosystems and chemical innovation

The 18th edition introduces the InDyChem pavilion, a specialized zone focusing on sustainable dyes and finishing solutions, organized in partnership with the Basic Chemicals, Cosmetics & Dyes Export Promotion Council (CHEMEXCIL). This initiative addresses the urgent need for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and water stewardship across the supply chain. Over 100 Indian companies supported by councils like TEXPROCIL and the Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) will showcase innovations in low-impact processing. Dr. Siddhartha Rajagopal, Executive Director of TEXPROCIL, noted that the event serves as a milestone for regional integration, facilitating direct access between global fiber suppliers and over 200 LEED-certified factories in Bangladesh.

Navigating global regulatory and economic headwinds

Despite a challenging global environment marked by energy supply fluctuations and Red Sea shipping disruptions, Bangladesh maintains its position as the world’s second-largest apparel exporter. The exhibition is designed to bridge the gap between international sustainability mandates, such as the EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP), and ground-level manufacturing capabilities. By integrating blockchain-backed traceability and AI-driven production tools, exhibitors aim to reduce typical fabric waste- currently averaging 8 per cent - down to sub-3 per cent levels. Arti Bhagat, Executive Director, Worldex India, emphasized, the 2026 focus is on empowering the region with technologies that drive global competitiveness through transparency and resource efficiency.

Global textile connector: Intex South Asia

Intex South Asia is the region's premier international textile sourcing platform, connecting over 3,000 suppliers with 70,000 global buyers since 2015. Focused on fiber, yarn, and accessories, it facilitates trade across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The organizers aim to accelerate intra-regional trade, supporting Bangladesh’s push toward a $100 billion apparel export target by 2030.

The global textile and apparel sector is undergoing a significant structural transformation, with the market valuation projected to reach $2.36 trillion by late 2026. This trajectory is increasingly underpinned by the e-textiles and smart clothing segment, which is expected to command a $3.08 billion valuation this year. Industry data indicates, approximately 60 per cent of this specific growth stems from consumer demand for integrated health-monitoring solutions. Unlike traditional garments, these high-functionality fabrics utilize conductive fibers and flexible sensors to track biometrics, representing a move toward ‘performance-as-a-service’ in the activewear and medical sectors.

Logistics decentralization and the e-commerce imperative

Supply chain resilience has replaced lean manufacturing as the primary operational priority. With online apparel sales anticipated to represent 25 per cent of total retail by 2026-end, brands are moving away from centralized distribution. Current logistics data reveals, 86 per cent of e-commerce enterprises are actively establishing distributed fulfillment nodes to reduce last-mile delivery times. This shift is a direct response to geopolitical volatility, such as the Red Sea disruptions, which have escalated shipping lead times by up to 40 per cent. Consequently, manufacturers are diversifying production hubs into South Asia and Mexico to mitigate single-region dependency.

Circular economy mandates and regulatory compliance

Sustainability is no longer a voluntary branding exercise but a core compliance requirement. The implementation of the EU’s Green Deal and India’s Solid Waste Management Rules 2026 has introduced mandatory reporting for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. These regulations are driving the textile waste management market toward a $10.05 billion valuation. The transition to a circular model is now an economic necessity, states a senior analyst at Frost & Sullivan. Companies failing to integrate recycled feedstock or digital product passports face an estimated 5-10 per cent increase in operational overhead due to carbon penalties and regulatory friction.

Industry composition and outlook

The global textile industry provides essential materials across fashion, industrial, and medical categories. Currently, synthetic fibers maintain a 68.9 per cent market share due to their cost-efficiency in technical applications. Moving into 2027, the sector focuses on nearshoring and enzymatic recycling to maintain a steady 4.2 per cent CAGR amidst fluctuating raw material costs.

Turkish knit fabric leader Ekoten Tekstil has completed a definitive shift in its quality framework, transitioning from reactive manual checks to an AI-driven real-time prevention system. Following an expansive pilot, the İzmir-based manufacturer has integrated automated inspection across its high-capacity weft-knitting lines. The implementation addresses a critical industry pain point: defects often remain invisible until the resource-intensive dyeing stage. By utilizing CNN-based deep learning models with 95 per cent detection accuracy, Ekoten’s system now identifies irregularities - such as elastane lines, oil spots, and yarn inconsistencies - the moment they occur, automatically halting machines to prevent compounded fabric loss.

Operational gains and environmental ROI

Data from a year-long assessment in 2025 reveals, AI deployment prevented over 2,450 hours of defective production and avoided the creation of 32,100 kg of faulty fabric. Beyond material savings, the move optimized energy efficiency, saving approximately 289,000 kWh of electricity and reducing CO₂ emissions by over 71 tons. This technological leap has significantly increased throughput, with inspection speeds rising from a manual average of 15 m per minute to 50 m per minute. By minimizing re-dyeing and reprocessing, the system also directly conserves water - a vital metric for Ekoten’s CDP Climate Change 'A' rating.

Scaling circularity through digital traceability

The strategic value of Ekoten's AI adoption lies in its ‘Digital Roll Quality Reports’ and precise defect coordinate mapping. This level of granularity enables a ‘circular by design’ approach, where production data is integrated with machine settings to forecast maintenance needs. As Ekoten targets a 100 per cent traceability mandate for its global activewear and performance partners, the integration of AI-led inspection acts as a hedge against rising raw material costs. The industry now understands that optimizing production processes is the only way to achieve true sustainability, noted leadership, reinforcing Ekoten’s roadmap to remain a top-tier supplier in the competitive European and North American markets.

Ekoten Tekstil: A sustainable knit specialist

A subsidiary of Sun Tekstil, Ekoten Tekstil is a leading Turkish manufacturer of high-quality knitted fabrics for fashion, military, and sportswear. Operating a massive facility near İzmir with a daily capacity of 40 tonnes, it specializes in technical dyeing and digital printing. Ekoten plans to sustain its market leadership through continued $10 million+ investments in digitalization and green manufacturing.

Asahi Kasei has initiated a decisive restructuring of its petrochemical footprint at the Mizushima Works, specifically targeting the production of Acrylonitrile (AN) - a critical precursor for acrylic fibers and synthetic resins. By fiscal 2030, the company will decommission its 200 kt/y AN line and transition its methacrylonitrile facility to a co-production model. This move reflects a broader industrial shift toward capital efficiency, as the Material segment seeks to mitigate the volatility of primary chemical margins. While the restructuring involves businesses generating ¥116.2 billion in revenue, the corporation is maintaining its dominance in the textile value chain by leveraging its South Korean subsidiary, Tongsuh Petrochemical, to ensure uninterrupted supply to global apparel manufacturers.

Strengthening high-performance textile portfolios

The realignment extends to specialty chemical derivatives, including the discontinuation of the Mizushima polycarbonate diol (PCD) line. As fashion brands increasingly demand durable, sustainable alternatives to traditional materials, Asahi Kasei is centralizing its PCD operations—essential for high-grade synthetic leather - within its Chinese facilities. This logistical optimization allows the firm to capitalize on the $30 billion global technical textiles market, where demand for performance-driven polyurethane coatings is surging. Industry analysts suggest, by exiting low-margin domestic production, Asahi Kasei can better funnel resources into its ‘Trailblaze Together’ growth pillars, ensuring its legacy in cellulose fibers and advanced polymers evolves alongside the digital and green transitions currently redefining the global apparel landscape.

Material and healthcare synergy

Asahi Kasei is a multi-sector industrial leader focused on high-performance materials and healthcare solutions. Originally established as a cellulose fiber pioneer in 1922, the company now commands significant market share in synthetic resins and fibers across Asia and Europe. Current growth strategies prioritize the integration of sustainable chemistry and advanced electronics. Financially, the firm is focused on converting capital investments into higher margins, targeting a more robust return on equity through disciplined portfolio management and international expansion.

India’s textile and apparel sector closed FY 2025-26 with exports worth Rs 3,16,334.9 crore, a 2.1 per cent increase that, at first glance, appears incremental. Beneath this modest expansion lies a more consequential transition. The industry is steadily moving away from its historic dependence on raw material exports toward a value-added manufacturing model, even as global demand conditions remain uneven and input costs, particularly energy-linked synthetics continue to fluctuate.

This shift is not merely cyclical. It reflects a deliberate repositioning as India attempts to secure a higher share of global apparel trade, where margins are structurally stronger and supply chain integration increasingly determines competitiveness.

Apparel sector the growth driver

The export basket underscores this change toward value addition. Ready-Made Garments (RMG) remain the dominant growth driver, while traditional segments such as cotton textiles and handicrafts show slower momentum.

Table: India’s textile and apparel exports overview

The table reveals a clear hierarchy: RMG not only commands the largest share but also leads in growth. This reflects India’s gradual climb up the value chain, where finished garments increasingly outperform upstream segments. Cotton textiles, while still significant, are losing relative momentum, while MMF, despite being central to global demand remains constrained by domestic structural inefficiencies.

Geographically, diversification has become a stabilizing force. Expansion into over 120 markets has reduced reliance on traditional Western demand centers. Strong growth in the UAE and Japan highlights how trade agreements and bilateral alignments are reshaping export flows, even as elevated crude prices continue to inflate freight and synthetic input costs.

PM MITRA parks the growth boosters

At the core of India’s long-term competitiveness lies the PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme. With a Ra 4,445 crore outlay, the initiative aims to compress the entire textile value chain from spinning to garmenting into integrated industrial ecosystems.

The implementation status across the seven approved parks, however, reveals a mixed picture of early success and execution strain. The leading cluster of parks has moved decisively into operational territory. Dhar in Madhya Pradesh has emerged as the frontrunner, with over 1,130 acres allotted and an investment pipeline exceeding Rs 21,000 crore. Tamil Nadu’s Virudhnagar park demonstrates the advantages of logistics-led planning, attracting over Rs 2,000 crore in committed capital. Telangana’s Warangal site, leveraging an existing textile base, has also secured significant early-stage investments.

In contrast, a second tier of parks, Amravati, Navsari, and Lucknow remains in the infrastructure build-out phase. These projects are heavily dependent on external connectivity investments, with funds drawn from a Rs 2,160 crore infrastructure pool to ensure last-mile access. Karnataka’s Kalaburagi park, despite completing land acquisition, is still in the early stages of trunk infrastructure development. This difference highlights a critical reality: land allocation is no longer the primary bottleneck execution velocity is.

Promise vs reality

The industry’s response to PM MITRA reflects a dual narrative. On one side, large-scale manufacturers and industry bodies view the parks as a structural leap. Integrated ecosystems promise to reduce logistics friction, compress lead times, and potentially lower operating costs by 10-12 per cent, bringing India closer to the efficiency benchmarks set by Bangladesh and Vietnam.

On the other side, MSME exporters remain cautious. The persistent inverted duty structure in the MMF segment where fiber attracts higher GST than finished fabric continues to lock up working capital. For smaller firms operating on thin margins, this fiscal distortion offsets many of the efficiency gains promised by physical infrastructure. The tension between physical scale and financial fluidity has become one of the defining challenges of India’s textile policy landscape.

A success story, the Virudhnagar PM MITRA park

The Virudhnagar PM MITRA park offers a glimpse of what successful execution could look like. By aligning with the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, the park integrates GIS-based logistics planning with direct port connectivity via VO Chidambaranar Port. This has translated into measurable gains. Early-stage units report a reduction of nearly 12 per cent in logistics costs, alongside the elimination of traditional inland transport delays that could extend up to two weeks. The model demonstrates how infrastructure, when synchronised with national logistics planning, can deliver immediate operational efficiencies rather than deferred benefits.

Execution as the litmus test

Despite strong investor interest estimated at over Rs 63,000 crore across all parks the success of PM MITRA hinges on consistent execution across states. Recognising uneven progress, the Union Budget 2026-27 introduced a ‘Challenge Mode’ framework for future parks, compelling states to compete on parameters such as power tariffs, labor flexibility, and regulatory ease.

This marks a shift from allocation-driven policy to performance-driven competition. The underlying objective is clear: prevent large-scale industrial zones from becoming underutilised land banks and instead ensure they evolve into globally competitive manufacturing hubs.

India’s textile industry, valued at approximately $152 billion, contributes around 2 per cent to GDP and employs over 45 million people. Its long-term ambition, to scale to $250 billion by 2030 rests on a combination of export expansion, infrastructure modernization, and policy alignment.

The 5F vision: Farm to Fiber to Factory to Fashion to Foreign captures this integrated approach. However, as the current phase demonstrates, achieving this vision will depend less on policy intent and more on execution discipline.

India’s textile export story is no longer defined by volume alone. It is increasingly shaped by how effectively the country can integrate infrastructure, resolve fiscal distortions, and sustain diversification in global markets.

The 2.1 per cent export growth in FY 2025–26 may appear modest, but it signals a sector in transition. The real inflection point lies ahead, where the success or failure of mega-scale infrastructure like PM MITRA will determine whether India can move from being a competitive supplier to a dominant global manufacturing hub.

The global fashion industry is entering a structural reset, and it’s not just because of cyclical demand decline or tariff volatility. It is philosophy in itself. The ‘2026 Deloitte Consumer Products Industry Global Outlook’ signals a decisive break from the conglomerate-led growth doctrine that dominated the last decade. An overwhelming 85 per cent of surveyed executives now believe that pure play companies, businesses built around dominance in sharply defined product categories will outperform sprawling multi-category giants. For apparel, this is not simply a governance preference. It is rapidly becoming the dominant survival pattern.

Fashion’s traditional scale advantage was built on aisle expansion: more categories, wider assortment, deeper SKU spread, and a promise of serving every price point and every occasion. That model now appears increasingly misaligned with a world shaped by compressed consumer wallets, fragmented trend cycles, and rising compliance costs. The industry’s new playbook favours precision over presence and specialism over spread.

Why focus has become a profit engine

The logic behind this shift is grounded in operating discipline. The Deloitte findings show that simplification and efficiency now rank as the most powerful driver of portfolio rationalisation, cited by 71 per cent of executives, while 67 per cent point to the need for faster innovation cycles.

Table: Drivers for the more focused model

In fashion, this table reflects more than portfolio theory. It captures the economics of the current volume vs value battle. With 60 per cent of companies struggling to preserve sales volume amid increasingly selective consumer behaviour, brands are moving away from mass assortment logic toward high-margin hero categories. Denim specialists are doubling down on fit science, luxury houses are narrowing around leather goods and occasion wear, while performance brands are building ecosystem dominance around running, yoga, and outdoor apparel.

The commercial implication is clear: focus reduces supply chains, improves design-to-shelf speed, sharpens consumer messaging, and reduces markdown dependency. In a tariff-fragmented world, those efficiencies increasingly translate directly into EBIT resilience.

The rise of the value-seeking majority

The deeper force behind this narrowing is demographic. Global middle-class purchasing power is under sustained pressure, creating what the report effectively identifies as a bifurcated apparel economy. On one side sits value-led purchasing behaviour, where consumers buy less but demand more utility per purchase. On the other lies the premium resilience zone, where brand trust, craftsmanship, and identity continue to command pricing power.

This is where the pure play thesis gains its sharpest relevance. Specialist brands are able to signal authority in one domain like, quiet luxury knitwear, technical sportswear, circular denim, occasion ethnicwear, rather than dilute brand meaning across unrelated categories. At the same time, sustainability remains one of the rare premium levers still expanding even in a price-sensitive market. The willingness to pay for traceable apparel remains strikingly strong.

Table: Consumer willingness to pay for traceability in apparel

The data reveals a critical monetisation insight. While the highest premium bands remain niche, the cumulative willingness to pay up to a 10 per cent premium spans a meaningful majority. For fashion businesses, this turns traceability from a compliance expense into a margin-enhancing proposition. Brands that can authenticate fibre origin, dye chemistry, and labour provenance are no longer simply de-risking reputation, they are building pricing architecture.

AI stylists and the dawn of agentic commerce

Perhaps the most disruptive theme in the 2026 outlook is the migration of artificial intelligence from internal productivity to consumer decision orchestration. The rise of agentic commerce fundamentally changes the mechanics of fashion discovery. The finding that 26 per cent of consumers already believe an AI agent can match their style preferences better than traditional browsing is strategically profound. Fashion’s historic competitive moat lay in merchandising intuition and editorial curation. That moat is now being challenged by algorithmic precision.

The emergence of AI-powered style bots, systems integrating biometric data, wardrobe history, event calendars and social behaviour marks the beginning of machine-mediated brand selection. In effect, fashion brands are no longer only marketing to consumers; they are increasingly optimising for recommendation engines that act on behalf of those consumers.

The European luxury pilot cited in the report, where AI agents drove 15 per cent of transactions and delivered return rates 40 per cent lower than human-selected purchases, underlines the economic significance. Lower returns in apparel are especially transformative because reverse logistics, repackaging and deadstock erosion remain among the sector’s biggest margin drags. Precision curation therefore, strengthens both top-line conversion and operational sustainability.

This is where focused category leadership becomes even more valuable. AI systems reward depth of relevance. Brands with sharply defined authority in a niche are more likely to be surfaced by intelligent agents than generalist retailers with diluted identity.

Compliance as a core competitive variable

The next battleground is regulation. What was once a reporting layer has now become a central determinant of market access. In fashion, the Digital Product Passport is ready to reshape how products are designed, sourced, and sold across Europe. The outlook’s warning that 62 per cent of fashion executives now rank regulatory compliance among their top three risks for 2026 reflects the scale of this transition. More significantly, the coming risk is not merely legal, it is fiscal. By 2027, brands unable to provide granular chain-of-custody data may face punitive green taxation and restricted market participation.

Table: Executive concerns regarding apparel supply chains

This hierarchy of concern illustrates how supply-chain visibility is becoming the new currency of competitiveness. Raw material traceability now outranks even labour rights and carbon reporting, a sign that fibre-level proof points will soon determine both compliance costs and consumer trust. For fashion brands, this pushes focus even further. It is materially easier to create granular, verifiable data ecosystems around fewer hero categories than across dozens of loosely related verticals. Focus, in this sense, is becoming a governance advantage.

The new logic of category dominance

The defining winners of 2026 are unlikely to be the largest brands in terms of shelf breadth. They will be the ones that achieve precise relevance within chosen domains, leverage AI to compress consumer decision journeys, and build transparent supply architectures robust enough for the regulatory era. The aisle-spanning giant is giving way to the specialised expert. In a world shaped by value-conscious shoppers, machine-curated demand, and increasingly punitive sustainability regulation, being everything to everyone now looks less like ambition and more like strategic drag.

Fashion’s next growth cycle will not be led by endless assortment expansion. It will be led by category dominance where precision, proof, and product authority converge into a new form of defensible scale.

"

" A landmark randomized controlled trial conducted by Good Business Lab at Shahi Exports has established a definitive correlation between worker physiological well-being and industrial output. Published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, the study reveals, providing free corrective glasses to garment workers suffering from presbyopia - a condition affecting one in four operators - boosted floor productivity by 6 per cent. At a marginal cost of under Rs 1,000 per worker, the intervention yielded a net benefit of Rs 4,000 in just six weeks, with annual returns projected at Rs 15,000 per operator. This data-backed evidence suggests, basic health screenings can match the performance gains of far more capital-intensive technical training or financial incentive programs.

Scaling social sustainability across global supply chains

India’s premier apparel manufacturer, Shahi Exports has committed to expanding this vision correction initiative to its entire workforce of 100,000 people. Beyond the internal business case, the macroeconomic implications are substantial; universal vision correction across the 53 million garment workers in South and Southeast Asia could unlock an estimated $27 billion in annual global productivity. Anant Ahuja, Director- ESG, Shahi Exports, emphasizes, strategic investment in eye health is a fundamental pillar of responsible manufacturing. As the industry faces intensifying scrutiny over ethical operations, this low-cost, high-impact model provides a scalable blueprint for enhancing both worker quality of life and long-term commercial competitiveness.

Shahi Exports' ethical manufacturing

Established in 1974, Shahi Exports is India’s largest integrated apparel manufacturer, operating over 50 facilities with nearly 100,000 employees. The company serves major global fashion brands, leveraging vertically integrated operations and a strong commitment to ESG-driven innovation, responsible sourcing, and large-scale worker well-being programs to maintain its market leadership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has commissioned a series of infrastructure and textile-focused initiatives in Telangana totaling Rs 9,400 crore, aiming to transform the state into a global manufacturing corridor. Central to this development is the strategic alignment with the PM MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel) park in Warangal, designed to consolidate the ‘Farm to Foreign’ supply chain. By integrating state-of-the-art spinning, weaving, and processing units within a single ecosystem, the government expects to lower logistics costs by approximately 10-12 per cent. This capital infusion is timed to leverage Telangana’s status as a top cotton producer, ensuring that raw material high-yields are converted into high-value garments for export markets, rather than being shipped out as unprocessed lint.

Logistics modernization and regional economic impact

The investment extends beyond the factory floor, encompassing critical rail and road debottlenecking projects that link industrial clusters to major maritime ports. These multimodal upgrades are essential for Telangana-based exporters to compete with ASEAN manufacturing hubs on lead times and freight efficiency. Industry experts indicate, the combined textile and infra push could generate over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, significantly boosting the regional economy. Prime Minister Modi emphasized, these projects are structural pillars intended to make the Indian textile sector a Rs 20 trillion industry by 2030. While challenges such as fluctuating global demand and energy costs persist, the provision of dedicated industrial water and power infrastructure under these new projects provides a stable environment for long-term private sector investment.

Telangana’s textile transformation

The PM MITRA initiative is a central government scheme to build integrated textile value chains across India. In Telangana, the project focuses on high-tech apparel manufacturing and sustainable processing for global export. The state aims to attract major multinational brands, leveraging its historical cotton-growing dominance to achieve a multi-billion dollar industrial output.