Gujarat CM Approves Textile Policy to Boost Women's Empowerment

By: WE Staff | Monday, 19 January 2026

• Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has sanctioned amendments to the Gujarat Textile Policy-2024
• The adjustments are geared towards facilitating women’s empowerment in the textile industry
• The new policy provides a systematic way of helping women form Self-Help Groups

Under the Gujarat Textile Policy-2024, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has given his assent to a set of amendments that aims at greater women’s participation in the textile sector, besides expanding policy benefits to non-polluting textile units, even those existing within municipal limits of the state.

The policy, for the first time, is putting in place a comprehensive system to support the SHGs women's empowerment and income generation in both rural and urban areas. To widen the ambit of the initiative, the Chief Minister has cleared amendments to certain provisions of the policy.

One or more women-led SHGs engaged in similar livelihood activities will be assisted under the revised framework, which shall be eligible for benefits under the Textile Policy-2024.

The SHGs may be registered under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, the National Urban Livelihood Mission, or as voluntary groups.

In a related development, the state government has also decided to extend policy benefits to non-polluting textile manufacturing units set up in municipal areas.

Garments, apparels, made-ups, stitching, embroidery, and other related units will, henceforth, be eligible for incentives, if they fall within the categories of White or Green as per the classification by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board or equivalent regulatory norms.

The Textile Policy-2024 employs a value chain approach, which targets garments, textile products, as well as technical textiles. This will help the textile industry realise its prime importance to the Gujarat economy.

The new policy will effectively recognize non-polluting, labor-intensive textile processes in urban sectors with the aim of balanced industrialization.

The amendments will benefit qualifying textile processing units in urban sectors, facilitate job creation in cities, and provide opportunities for qualified and semi-skilled personnel.

This is in addition to the expected benefits of the policy, which will promote the development of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through an improved business environment and the optimal utilization of infrastructure in the urban area, which will result in a reduction in production costs.

As the nature of activities like sewing, embroidery, etc. tends towards concentration in cities; the new provisions will certainly make it easier for women workers to find employment locally, thus bringing about socio-economic stability along with a balanced lifestyle.

On a whole, these amendments aim to synchronize industrial development and environmental sustainability along with enhancing women’s economic empowerment.

In alignment with Chief Minister Bhupendra and Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Industries Harsh Sanghvi, these amendments aim to help textile development contribute to other development goals of our nation as a part of achieving ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ as a precursor.