Traditional, women-dominated rural industries like coir can be engines of inclusive and green growth. Discuss with reference to recent government interventions.

India produces about two-thirds of the world's coir. Coir exports rose from ₹1,630 crore in FY 2014-15 to ₹6,614 crore in FY 2025-26 [1]. The industry runs on rural women's labour and on coconut-husk waste, so it can drive growth that is both inclusive and green, provided its structural gaps are addressed.

Engine of inclusive growth

• Women-led employment: more than 7 lakh workers, about 80% of them rural women [1].
• Low entry barriers: small spinning units in villages need little capital. For example, a woman entrepreneur in East Godavari employs 6 women and has trained about 120 [1].
• Wider regional spread: the Coir Board is opening showrooms in non-traditional regions, such as Konch in Jalaun (UP) [4].

Engine of green growth

• Waste-to-wealth: husk that would otherwise be burnt or dumped becomes mats, ropes and coir-pith bio-fertiliser [1].
• Green infrastructure: the Indian Roads Congress accredited coir geotextiles for road construction in 2011 [4]. They are biodegradable substitutes for synthetic materials.

Recent government interventions

• Coir Vikas Yojana (central sector scheme): over 68,000 people trained since 2014-15, more than 80% of them women; over 150 new machines, technologies and products developed [1].
• Mahila Coir Yojana: two months of paid spinning training and subsidised spinning wheels (ratts) for women artisans [2].
• PMEGP and Udyam: subsidised credit for new units and formal registration of enterprises [1].
• GST cut to 5% (2025) on coir products, which benefits women-led MSMEs [3].

Limits to the promise

• Informality: only 2.3 lakh workers are in Udyam-registered units [1]. Kerala's 2021 ordinance raised workers' welfare-fund contribution from ₹5 to ₹20 a month [7].
• Low value addition: exports lean towards pith and fibre rather than labour-intensive yarn and mats [1].
• Unused husk: only about 30% of India's coconut husk is used effectively [5].
• Polluting first step: traditional retting (soaking husks in backwaters) pollutes surface waters [6].

Coir shows that a traditional industry can link women's livelihoods with circular-economy growth, and recent schemes have expanded skills, credit and markets. The way forward is to measure success by worker incomes and husk use, not just export value. That means wider husk collection, cleaner enzyme-based retting, and more value-added geotextiles. Done well, the sector advances SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 12 (responsible production) and becomes a truly inclusive, green engine for Viksit Bharat @2047.