Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said UP stands for “unlimited potential”, and its rich heritage, young workforce, industrial base and vast market could help the state emerge as a global textile hub.
Addressing the inaugural session of the UP Textile Conclave-2026 here, Adityanath said the state had undergone a transformation since 2017 and was now home to the world’s youngest workforce.
“This is a transformed UP. We now have the world’s youngest workforce. Leveraging this strength, the aim is to transform Uttar Pradesh into a global textile hub,” he said, adding that the government wanted to develop the entire value chain within the state—from fibre to yarn, yarn to fabric, fabric to garment and garment to brand—before taking products to global markets.
During the event, the chief minister launched the ‘UP Tech Mitra’ portal and inaugurated the Handloom Weaver Prosperity Scheme (Hathkargha Bunkar Samriddhi Yojana). MoUs worth ₹5,196 crore for fresh investments in the textile sector were signed, while Letters of Comfort worth ₹163 crore and subsidies amounting to ₹60 crore were distributed.
Adityanath said UP’s textile identity dated back thousands of years, with references to the silk fabrics of Kashi found in ancient texts, including Vedic literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He cited Varanasi’s silk sarees, Bhadohi’s carpets, Lucknow’s chikankari, Bareilly’s zari work, Kanpur’s textile ecosystem and Meerut’s potential in technical textiles as examples of the state’s heritage and industrial strength.
{{/usCountry}}Adityanath said UP’s textile identity dated back thousands of years, with references to the silk fabrics of Kashi found in ancient texts, including Vedic literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He cited Varanasi’s silk sarees, Bhadohi’s carpets, Lucknow’s chikankari, Bareilly’s zari work, Kanpur’s textile ecosystem and Meerut’s potential in technical textiles as examples of the state’s heritage and industrial strength.
{{/usCountry}}He said the textile industry was the second-largest source of employment after agriculture.
“UP ranks third in the country in fabric manufacturing, accounting for 13-14% of total production. Textile, apparel and handicraft exports from the state have grown by around 56% over the past six years, making UP the country’s fourth-largest exporting state in the sector. Gautam Buddha Nagar, with exports exceeding ₹21,000 crore in 2025-26, ranks second among the country’s leading exporting districts,” Adityanath said.
The chief minister said 17 textile products from UP had received Geographical Indication (GI) tags, while lakhs of women were becoming self-reliant through self-help groups.
Taking a swipe at the pre-2017 period, Adityanath said law and order had collapsed and mafia syndicates had created parallel systems of power, discouraging investors and hampering businesses. He said historic textile mills, including the spinning mill at Maghar established in 1977 and shut in 1997, had suffered under the prevailing system.
“Investors would arrive dreaming of business opportunities but would leave with extortion demands instead. Mafia elements could roam freely, brandishing guns; they would simply lay claim to any land they desired, while the ruling government remained silent,” he added.
“Today, UP is free from riots, curfews and civil unrest,” he said, asserting that no one could compromise the safety of daughters, traders or investors.
Textile industry minister Rakesh Sachan said investment-friendly policies had given fresh momentum to infrastructure and industry. He said handicraft exports stood at around ₹35,000 crore in 2025-26, while more than two lakh handloom weavers contributed to exports exceeding ₹110 crore.
Sachan said investment proposals worth ₹5,354 crore had been approved and incentives of ₹322 crore had been provided to around 116 investors under the 2017 and 2022 textile policies. Additional incentives of around ₹96 crore had also been disbursed.