New Delhi, Oct. 19 -- The government is considering a Rs.25,000-crore skilling push for the labour-intensive textiles and garments sector over the next five years, as it seeks to build a larger pool of industry-ready workers and sharpen India's manufacturing and export competitiveness amid global trade and geopolitical tensions, two people aware of the matter said. The proposed Rs.25,000-crore outlay for Samarth 2.0 would mark a sharp increase from the Rs.740 crore spent under the existing Samarth 1.0 scheme for textile workers over the five years through March 2026. The allocation for the current fiscal year is Rs.300 crore. The textiles ministry's proposal has been examined by the Expenditure Finance Committee, an inter-ministerial body that appraises government schemes, and could soon be placed before the Cabinet for final approval, said the people cited earlier, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The development assumes significance as the textiles and garment sector is the largest employer in the country after agriculture, providing jobs to 45 million people and supporting the livelihood of more than 100 million, most of them women and rural workers. The Samarth 2.0, announced in the budget for 2026-27, aims to modernize the existing skilling framework through closer collaboration between industry and academic institutions, with a focus on preparing workers for the changing technology and industry requirements. Once approved by the Cabinet, the programme is expected to be rolled out through industry partners, academic institutions and other organizations in the sector. Queries emailed to the secretaries of expenditure and textiles, and the spokesperson of the textiles ministry remained unanswered till press time. Industry executives and experts welcomed the move, saying that the training programmes should focus on imparting industry-relevant skills to workers. "Expanding the skilling programme could help address the shortage of trained workers. But the focus should not be only on training numbers but also on industry-relevant skills, productivity and employability," said Raja Shanmugam, a knitwear exporter and former president of the Tiruppur Exporters' Association. Training must keep pace with the changes in technology, quality standards and global buyer requirements, he said. "Closer collaboration between exporters and training institutions will be essential to ensure that workers acquire skills that factories actually need," Shanmugam added. India is also planning to more than double its textiles and garment exports to $100 billion by 2030 by better leveraging various free trade agreements (FTAs), which requires a large and trained workforce....