Infrastructure development and construction have significantly increased over the past few years. With the fast-paced development and commencement of new projects, there has been an increase in the adoption of new and advanced technologies aimed at increasing the lifespan of projects and improving their quality. As such, geosynthetic products have been seeing increased adoption in the infrastructure sector.
In 2025, geosynthetics emerged as a key material across India’s infrastructure projects, delivering proven results. Across India’s rapidly expanding infrastructure sector, geosynthetics have seen a significant increase in adoption over the past few years, driven by major government initiatives like the Bharatmala Pariyojana, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Smart Cities Mission. Moreover, India’s rapid infrastructural expansion necessitates the use of innovative solutions that enhance efficiency, longevity and sustainability.
Policy-led market growth and expanded applications
Greater regulatory scrutiny is now accelerating the adoption of geosynthetics. Environmental clearances, quality control orders and alignment with global governance frameworks are making geosynthetics a requirement for both brownfield and greenfield projects.
As per media reports, India’s geosynthetics market, valued at $1.41 billion in 2023, has sustained robust momentum into 2025. Moreover, with increasing production and manufacturing hubs across many states, bolstered by the Make in India initiative, the market is projected to reach $1.9 billion by 2033, reflecting growth and technological advancements. Western states like Maharashtra and Gujarat have already strengthened their dominance by manufacturing geotextiles, geocells, geogrids, geomembranes and geonets, while other regions are ramping up to meet surging demand from new infrastructure projects. More importantly, emphasis is also being placed on improving research and development in the sector.
Recent policy developments have amplified the use case of geosynthetics. The centre has placed increased focus on promoting the use of geosynthetics across projects. For instance, in 2023, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), with assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), developed guidelines to enhance the construction of hill road infrastructure. These would especially apply to regions such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the Northeast. One of the guidelines specifies the use of advanced technologies such as geosynthetics for slope protection and embankment construction in these areas. Additionally, as per MoRTH, the feasibility of using geosynthetics in any project should be explored by the implementing agencies and state governments at the detailed project report stage itself.
With the aim to improve safety at construction sites, the Ministry of Textiles issued quality control orders (QCOs) for geotextiles, industrial textiles, ropes and cordages in October 2024. The QCOs ensure uniform quality measures and that safety and performance standards are maintained. It will also aid in ensuring consistency and reliability during material selection.
However, a question needs to be asked: Have mandates matched the on-ground pro gress? India’s policy framework for geosynthetics has advanced, but despite clear guidelines and standard specifications in the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) codes, on-ground implementation has lagged behind expectations. Field adoption has been uneven due to limited awareness among contractors, inadequate testing and certification, procurement bottlenecks, price sensitivities and a tendency to treat geosynthetics as an optional material. For instance, the 2023 MoRTH-JICA guidelines for hill roads in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the Northeast explicitly mandated geosynthetics for slope protection and embankment construction, yet audits showed only 40-50 per cent compliance across the Char Dham and Zojila Tunnel projects, hampered by procurement delays and terrain logistics.
Level of deployment and comparative dynamics across sectors
The adoption of geosynthetics in India’s infrastructure sector has gained formal policy momentum and greater deployment in recent years. As a smart solution, geosynthetics offer diverse applications. They stabilise soil, enhance drainage and provide sustainable reinforcement in critical projects. At the same time, they deliver cost-effective, eco-friendly alternatives that shorten construction timelines and reduce import dependency.
Geosynthetics are finding growing application in highway projects. They are proving to be the material of choice in this segment, helping address issues relating to weak soil strata, need for reinforcement in rugged terrain and drainage. For instance, major road projects along the Himalayan frontier, such as the Char Dham Pariyojana, have traditionally been impacted due to landslides. Using geosynthetics has helped strengthen the infrastructure. Natural geotextiles from coir and jute have gained traction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for rural road construction, promoted by the Coir Board for their biodegradability, high porosity and moisture retention, deployed on over 5,000 km of stretches in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Benefits have also been seen in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway – Strata Global deployed StrataWall EC for retaining walls, reducing steel requirements significantly, and StrataWeb geocells for erosion control, achieving 20 per cent carbon emission savings while enhancing long-term stability. More recently, Ocean Non Wovens contributed to a key road project by the National Highways Authority of India in Patna, Bihar, by supplying 3,000 square metres of geocomposite. Other key projects include the National Highway (NH)-2 Varanasi-Aurangabad stretch and the NH-5 Shimla Bypass Package I (Kaithlighat to Shakral village).
Following closely, in the water sector, geomembranes lined new reservoirs in drought-prone Maharashtra, curbing seepage losses by up to 40 per cent, while geo bags have fortified Godavari river embankments against intensified monsoons. Under water management, geotubes have revolutionised desilting at Tamil Nadu’s Pillur Dam, processing 25,000 cubic metres of silt efficiently with minimal ecological disruption; in Prayagraj, 3,660 million litres of contaminated Ganga water was treated – at 100-130 million litres daily from 23 untapped drains. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) advanced rainwater harvesting in December 2024 with 139 modular pits featuring prefabricated polymer blocks interlocked around borewells and fully wrapped in geotextile fabric to filter soil, bringing the total to 357 pits across NDMC areas. Further north, Dibrugarh’s Brahmaputra river project installed geobags blending woven polyester and polypropylene, filled with sand and river silt, to serve as flood-diverting resistance walls that foster natural vegetation growth.
The railway sector has expanded geosynthetic usage beyond track formations. It employs geotextiles as blanketing layers for slope erosion control and to stabilise beds across diverse geologies, from plains to hills. Geotextiles have effectively stabilised weak subgrades in dedicated freight corridors (for example, 500 km in Uttar Pradesh) and for slope control in the Northeast hill lines.
Airport construction works have been using geosynthetics in runway development and pavement reinforcement. Its notable use is witnessed in the construction of Pakyong airport in Sikkim, where a composite soil reinforcement system was implemented to retain and stabilise fill material. Additionally, at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, geosynthetics were integrated into the construction of taxiways and aprons to enhance soil strength and improve drainage efficiency, reducing water accumulation and preventing pavement deterioration.
Other sectors have seen a more modest level of uptake. Geosynthetics have become an important component in India’s mining and tunnelling sector. Some projects in Odisha’s coal belts have adopted geomembranes for waterproofing and structural integrity, reducing leakage incidents by 35 per cent in test bores. Ports like Mundra and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port have integrated geonets for drainage under container yards to handle rising cargo volumes.
These infrastructure projects highlight a consistent uptake in practical deployment amid India’s infrastructure growth surge; yet adoption trails global leaders in scale, innovation and integration.
Trends in overseas deployment: Scale, innovation and maturity
Globally, geosynthetics utilisation in 2025 far outpaced India’s in per capita deployment and technological sophistication, with mature markets prioritising smart, sustainable integrations. Europe (led by Germany and France) and North America have integrated building information modelling and geographic information systems for precision pavement design, achieving 99 per cent project uptime compared to India’s 85 per cent in some pilots. More interestingly, China’s Belt and Road Initiative deploys geocells across over 50,000 km of high speed rail and highways, using internet of things-monitored geogrids for real-time soil shift alerts.
In the US, the Federal Highway Administration’s 2025 Every Day Counts programme mandates recycled geosynthetics in 70 per cent of new landfills and roadways, delivering routine 15-20 per cent cost savings and 30 per cent lower embodied carbon. Moreover, Australia has advanced coastal protections with hybrid geosynthetics in Great Barrier Reef erosion barriers, featuring biodegradable reinforcements that self-vegetate within 18 months. The UAE’s Masdar City projects embed sensor-equipped geomembranes in solar farms for dust control and water retention, while Europe has rigorously enforced EN 13242 standards (the Netherlands deploying geocomposites in 2025-upgraded Delta Works flood defences to withstand 1-in-500-year storms). All in all, India remains innovative in isolation but lags in pervasiveness.
Overcoming sectoral bottlenecks
Despite growth, certain challenges hinder geosynthetics adoption in India. High upfront material costs, 20-30 per cent above traditional aggregates, discourage small contractors. A shortage of skilled workers hampers installation; only 10-15 per cent of engineers are trained in proper geosynthetics deployment, leading to errors in 25 per cent of hill road projects. Limited awareness keeps people using old techniques, while pre-QCO quality inconsistencies caused 10-15 per cent failure rates in early 2025 tenders. Moreover, most production clusters being located in Maharashtra and Gujarat (80 per cent) leads to logistics costs being driven up by 12-18 per cent nationwide, increasing reliance on costly imports for more advanced geocomposites amid rupee fluctuations.
Geotextiles may sustain damage during installation, which may result in inevitable changes to their mechanical, hydraulic and physical characteristics. Furthermore, exposure to ultraviolet rays and low temperatures can damage geogrids, potentially impacting the overall market demand during installation.
Reaching parity with global benchmarks
Although the use of geosynthetics has been increasing over the years, adoption is still not at the expected level. There are many challenges that still remain with respect to the application of geosynthetics. For instance, geosynthetics can sometimes underperform due to their varied applications or environmental conditions.
However, they still have huge potential, given their benefits and the learnings gleaned from successful projects. Given the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, India’s geosynthetics trajectory is on the rise. Furthering this, incentives like viability gap finance, targeted skilling and localised manufacturing could catapult India to the top three globally. Geosynthetics’ high durability and ability to increase productivity and enable long-term cost reduction could be driving factors for their increased uptake in the future. This potential is further buoyed by the large number of infrastructure projects currently in the pipeline.
Himanshu Tagore
