The agreement was formalised at Bharat Tex 2026 in New Delhi, with the objective of facilitating compliance with upcoming digital product passport (DPP) regulations set by the EU.
Under the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, new DPP requirements will soon make traceability mandatory for high-priority product groups, including textiles.
Indian powerloom operators, who are positioned at the early stages of the global textile supply chain, are increasingly expected to provide reliable and portable documentation regarding material origin, composition, and production history when exporting to international markets.
PDEXCIL's chairman K. Sakthivel said: “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.”
AWARE, an Amsterdam-based data infrastructure provider, brings blockchain-anchored tokenisation technology to the partnership, creating a unique data token for each production batch. This token contains authenticated information about the material’s origin, composition, and credentials, and remains linked to the physical product throughout its journey in the supply chain.
Information generated in this manner supports the issuance of digital records such as blockchain-based Crypto TCs and lays the groundwork for the DPP system.
AWARE founder and managing director Feico van der Veen added: “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.”
With this MoU, PDEXCIL will facilitate the introduction of AWARE technology to its membership base and support awareness, education, and adoption within the sector.
Planned activities include workshops, training sessions, webinars, and regular communications. In turn, AWARE will offer preferential terms, onboarding, and technical support to verified PDEXCIL members.
Data sovereignty remains a central principle of the collaboration, with producers maintaining control and ownership of their supply chain data.
Initial implementation projects are expected to launch shortly with selected PDEXCIL member units, as both parties aim to enable India’s powerloom sector to adapt to evolving international due diligence and market compliance standards.
