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Corporate Update

Coimbatore Textile Clusters Push For Green Shift With Electrification And Decarbonisation Drive

• By  Textile Excellence
• July 28, 2026

Coimbatore’s textile industry is being urged to accelerate its transition towards cleaner technologies, with industry leaders calling for cluster-wide adoption of electrification, real-time monitoring and low-carbon solutions to future-proof manufacturing.

Speaking at a meeting on “Future-Proofing Textile Manufacturing”, Nirmala Raja, Managing Director, Rajapalayam Mills, said textile clusters must embrace technologies that can help reduce carbon emissions across the value chain.

She highlighted that textile processing requires significant heat energy, which can increasingly be generated through electricity instead of fossil fuels. However, she stressed that new technologies must be tested through pilot projects, proven at unit level and adopted collectively by clusters at affordable costs.

The call comes as textile processing units face growing pressure to reduce emissions and meet global sustainability requirements.

The Perundurai SIPCOT Textile Processors Association is already working with the Vasudha Foundation to support the shift away from fossil fuels towards electrification. The initiative is connecting textile units with technology providers and exploring viability gap funding options to make the transition feasible.

Ravi Sam, Vice-Chairman of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, said Tamil Nadu’s western textile belt grew on the strength of raw materials, skilled manpower and competitive power costs. With challenges emerging on raw material and labour availability, he stressed the importance of reliable and affordable power supply.

The Southern India Mills’ Association also highlighted sustainability challenges facing exporters, including rising non-tariff barriers in global markets. Secretary General K. Selvaraju said treated textile processing effluent discharge into the sea could be a more viable option than zero liquid discharge in certain cases due to lower capital and operational costs.

The Vasudha Foundation released a study titled “Electrification of Textile – Evidence and Insights from Textile Wet Processing Units in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat”, examining pathways for decarbonising textile processing clusters.

With global buyers increasingly demanding low-carbon supply chains, India’s textile clusters are under pressure to adopt cleaner energy, digital monitoring and sustainable processing technologies to remain competitive.

Speaking at a meeting on “Future-Proofing Textile Manufacturing”, Nirmala Raja, Managing Director, Rajapalayam Mills, said textile clusters must embrace technologies that can help reduce carbon emissions across the value chain. She highlighted that textile processing requires significant heat energy, which can increasingly be generated through electricity instead of fossil fuels. However, she stressed that new technologies must be tested through pilot projects, proven at unit level and adopted collectively by clusters at affordable costs. The call comes as textile processing units face growing pressure to reduce emissions and meet global sustainability requirements.