QUESTIONING SUSTAINABILITY: ECONOMIC EXPANSION AND CONTRADICTIONS BEHIND INDIA’S ECO-FRIENDLY TEXTILE POLICY

ABSTRACT

India's textile industry is among the largest in the world and contributes significantly to India's GDP and economic growth. As the second largest total exporter globally after China with more than 45 million workers, India's textile industry has long been the subject of criticism concerning labour exploitation and environmental damage. Since 2016, nevertheless, Narendra Modi's government has started to take a different yet somewhat perplexing approach to introducing and environmentally friendlier and more sustainable direction in its textile industry. This article aims to comprehend the reasons behind India's new policy arguing that—despite such changes—environmental sustainability has not become India's full concern in the textile sector at the moment. Such a shift was part of India's international market expansion strategy towards the European Union market which had imposed non—tariff import restrictions on India's textile products. This article also shows contradictions and tensions in the government's eco—friendly textile policy concerning its high production costs and India's yet dependence on conventional production systems.

KEYWORDS:

• textile industry
• environmental policy
• political economy
• sustainability
• India
• pollution
• trade
• EU
• coal
• energy

Notes

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Faris Al-Fadhat

Faris Al-Fadhat, PhD, is Assistant Professor of International Political Economy at the Department of International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is the author of The Rise of International Capital: Indonesian Conglomerates in ASEAN (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Email: [email protected]

Shuluh Shasa Nadita

Shuluh Shasa Nadita is a research associate at the Centre for Development and International Studies (CEDIS), Department of International Relations, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia