The Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) and AWARE™, an Amsterdam-based textile traceability platform, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Bharat Tex 2026 to help India’s powerloom sector prepare for emerging European Union Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements.
The agreement was signed by K. Sakthivel, Chairman of PDEXCIL, and Feico van der Veen, Founder and Managing Director of AWARE™, marking a significant step towards strengthening digital traceability and supply chain transparency in India’s textile industry.
The collaboration comes as the European Union moves towards implementing Digital Product Passports under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), with textiles identified among the priority product categories. The regulation will require manufacturers to provide verifiable information on product origin, material composition and production history, making traceability increasingly important for exporters supplying European markets.
Recognising the strategic role of India’s powerloom industry at the beginning of the textile value chain, the partnership aims to equip manufacturers with blockchain-enabled traceability tools while ensuring producers retain ownership of their production data.
AWARE™ provides a blockchain-anchored infrastructure that creates a unique Data Token for every production batch. The token securely carries authenticated information on material origin, fibre composition and production credentials throughout the supply chain, enabling manufacturers to generate blockchain-issued Crypto TCs® and establish the digital foundation required for future Digital Product Passports.
Speaking on the collaboration, Feico van der Veen, Founder and Managing Director of AWARE™, said the company has designed its platform with producers at the centre.
“Everyone else built for the brands. We built for the producers. India’s powerloom sector is where a large part of the world’s textiles begins. The data must start here and travel with the goods, not be reconstructed later. In a world where an unverifiable claim can become a legal liability, verified, producer-owned data is not simply a feature. It is access to the market,” he said.
As part of the MoU, PDEXCIL will introduce AWARE™’s digital traceability solutions to its member companies through awareness programmes, workshops, webinars, training sessions and other industry engagement initiatives. The organisation will also facilitate education on evolving international compliance requirements and digital product traceability.
AWARE™ will provide verified PDEXCIL members with preferential commercial terms, onboarding support, technical assistance and training to accelerate adoption of blockchain-based traceability solutions.
Importantly, the collaboration has been designed around data sovereignty, ensuring textile producers maintain full ownership and control of the supply chain data they generate.
Highlighting the importance of the initiative, K. Sakthivel, Chairman of PDEXCIL, said the partnership will help Indian powerloom manufacturers remain globally competitive.
“The EU Digital Product Passport will bring significant changes to the way textile products and production data are presented in international markets. Through this collaboration, we aim to help Indian powerloom producers strengthen their traceability capabilities, prepare for emerging requirements and improve their competitiveness while retaining ownership of their data,” he said.
The two organisations plan to begin initial implementation projects with selected PDEXCIL member units, laying the groundwork for wider adoption of digital traceability across India’s powerloom sector as global sustainability and compliance standards continue to evolve.