India is cementing its position as a global leader in sustainable trade, as evidenced by the conclusion of SUTRA 2025 – Sustainable Trade Summit, hosted by IDH with strategic support from Palladium, NISCOPS, and knowledge guidance from Sattva Consulting. Themed “Sourcing with Purpose: India’s Commitment to Inclusive and Sustainable Growth,” the two-day summit at Le Méridien, New Delhi, brought together over 500 delegates and 60 speakers spanning government, industry, development institutions, academia, and farmer organizations to explore how purpose-led sourcing can accelerate the country’s transition to climate-resilient and socially equitable trade systems.

Speaking on the platform’s significance, Rohit Kansal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, highlighted that SUTRA 2025 demonstrates India’s growing leadership in inclusive and sustainable sourcing, emphasizing collaboration across farmers, FPOs, innovators, financiers, and industry. “Collaboration is the cornerstone of transformation, and through initiatives like this, India is demonstrating how sustainability can move from compliance to competitiveness, from intent to impact,” he said, underscoring the Ministry’s commitment to circularity, farm-to-factory linkages, and positioning Indian textiles as a global model of responsibility and resilience.

Across 13 sessions, participants engaged in solution-driven dialogues on responsible sourcing, climate finance, gender empowerment, living incomes, and technology-enabled transparency, sharing practical models of regenerative agriculture, landscape approaches, and traceable value chains that integrate economic progress with environmental stewardship. The summit also featured a Sustainability Experience Centre, where organizations showcased innovations in traceability, regenerative farming, and circular production, providing interactive demonstrations and solution pitches that illustrated how emerging technologies can enhance supply chain transparency and accountability.

Reflecting on the summit, Jagjeet Singh Kandal, Country Director, IDH India, emphasized that sustainable growth requires collaboration and shared accountability. “Through partnerships, we aim to translate sustainability commitments into tangible action, strengthening value chains, improving livelihoods, and driving measurable impact on the ground. The conversations at SUTRA 2025 reaffirm that collaboration is not just a principle of our work, but the pathway to building resilient markets and a more equitable future,” he said.

Industry leaders including Sougata Niyogi (Godrej Agrovet), Sudhakar Desai (Emami Agrotech & IVPA), Sagarika Bose (SAP), Prabhakar Lingareddy (ITC Limited), Mandeep Singh Tuli (Hindustan Unilever Limited), and Dr. Arpita Mukherjee (ICRIER) shared insights on aligning business competitiveness with climate action and social responsibility, while Marije Boomsma (IDH Global) reinforced the organization’s commitment to translating sustainability ambitions into scalable global impact.

Over its three editions, SUTRA has emerged as one of India’s foremost platforms for advancing sustainable trade and responsible sourcing. The 2025 edition deepened cross-sector partnerships and set a forward-looking agenda for inclusive growth, reaffirming a shared vision to align trade, technology, and sustainability and drive collective action toward a fairer and greener global economy.