The Indian textile industry has flagged concerns about an Environment Ministry move to mandate virtually all textile firms to reduce their effluent discharge to zero. The argument is that such a stipulation goes beyond what the developed world follows and would make Indian firms even more uncompetitive at a time when export orders are shrinking. Accounting for 14 per cent of India’s exports, the textile industry is India’s largest employer after agriculture. But, the industry has recently lost ground to Bangladesh and Vietnam in the global market as the preferred supplier for readymade garments.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest issued a draft notification in late November that proposes new pollution control standards for effluents from the textile industry. It also requires all textile units set up in clusters such as Tirupur in Tamil Nadu to set up common effluent treatment plants to ensure zero liquid discharge, irrespective of their waste water quantity.

According to the ministry, the industry players would be granted 30 months to construct or augment their existing effluent treatment plants to comply with this new regulation under the Environment Protection Act of 1986. No new or existing units will be allowed to operate their factories after that, in the absence of such arrangements.

In this regard, the industry members have raised their apprehensions about the implications of the new norms in a missive sent earlier this week to the ministries of textiles as well as environment and forests, questioning the assumption that textile units discharge effluents without treating them.

According to A Didar Singh, Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), ‘zero discharge’ is not the only solution. The effluent can be treated and reused for various other purposes including discharge in the sea at least in coastal states.