India is developing 40 new Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes for the technical textile sector.HSN is an international commodity description and coding system developed by the World Customs Organization. The codes will facilitate monitoring of export data and providing financial support to the Indian textile sector. The main purpose of HSN codes is to classify goods from all over the world in a systematic and logical manner. This brings in a uniform classification of goods and facilitates international trade. The HSN system is used by more than 200 countries and economies for uniform classification, as a base for their customs tariffs and for collection of international trade statistics. The code will help make a comprehensive formula for monitoring export data.

In the absence of clear classification of the technical textile sector, many genuine manufacturers are not able to avail of incentives being allowed to the sector. HSN will enable the use of these incentives.

The global market for technical textiles has a very high CAGR but India lags with respect to the annual growth rate of this sector, often called a sunrise industry. The codes can help achieve a sectoral market size of up to two lakh crore rupees by 2020-21.