Ludhiana's knitwear MSMEs: what do their boilers burn, and what will export buyers ask for?

Wood, rice husk, pet coke and diesel, raising steam for dyeing yarn and fabric, across a cluster of about 14,000 MSMEs, 70% of them micro. Export buyers ask for fuel and power use by month, Scope 1 and 2 totals, and output, so pet coke against husk is the choice that moves your number most.

The cluster

• About 14,000 MSME units: 9,800 micro, 2,800 small and 1,400 medium.
• Knitwear makers and exporters at the core, backed by spinners, dyers and job knitters.
• Dyeing, processing and spinning units use the most energy; printing uses less.
• Electricity runs compressors, motors and lighting. Steam for dyeing comes from boilers burning wood, rice husk, pet coke or HSD.

What a buyer's supplier form usually asks

• Fuel burnt each month by type, in tonnes or litres, and electricity in kWh, for the last full year.
• Scope 1 and Scope 2 totals in tonnes CO2e, and the factors used.
• Output in kg or pieces, so they can work out a figure per unit.
• Any solar or renewable power, with bills or certificates.
• For biomass: where it comes from and whether it is a residue, such as husk, or wood.

How each boiler fuel is counted

• Pet coke and HSD: fossil CO2 in Scope 1. Pet coke is about 3.17 t CO2 per tonne on IPCC defaults.
• Rice husk and wood: the CO2 is biogenic and reported separately, outside the scopes. Methane and nitrous oxide from burning stay in Scope 1, a few tonnes CO2e per 100 t.
• Buying steam from a neighbour: Scope 2, using the supplier's fuel data.

Get ready in a month

1. Collect 12 months of fuel bills and weighbridge slips for husk, wood and coke, and every power bill.
2. Note boiler-house stock at each month end, so you count fuel burnt, not fuel bought.
3. Record kg of fabric dyed or pieces made each month.
4. Keep a supplier note for husk or wood showing its source.
5. Fix boiler losses first: SIDBI-supported energy audits in the cluster found boilers the biggest saving: an estimated Rs 26.6 lakh a year at one unit for a Rs 4.5 lakh investment.

Worked example: 100 t of pet coke against 100 t of rice husk

• Pet coke: 100 t x 32.5 GJ per t = 3.25 TJ x 97.5 t CO2 per TJ = 317 t CO2 in Scope 1
• Rice husk: 100 t x 11.6 GJ per t = 1.16 TJ
• Husk methane: 1.16 x 30 kg = 34.8 kg x 27 = 0.94 t CO2e; nitrous oxide: 1.16 x 4 kg = 4.6 kg x 273 = 1.27 t CO2e
• Husk Scope 1: about 2.2 t CO2e; biogenic CO2 reported separately: 1.16 x 100 = 116 t
• Husk gives less heat per tonne, so you need about 2.8 t of husk for the heat of 1 t of pet coke; even then Scope 1 stays near 6 t against 317

IPCC 2006 default net calorific values and factors for manufacturing, with AR6 warming potentials (27 for non-fossil methane, 273 for nitrous oxide). Use your fuel's own lab values if you have them.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and power bills into a monthly record traced to each document, so the fuel, power and Scope 1 and 2 figures a buyer's form asks for come from your own papers.

• Supplier evidence for your buyers
• Biomass or waste fuel in a boiler
• Carbon per garment for a hosiery unit
• Biomass supplier evidence

Sources: SAMEEEKSHA, Cluster profile: Ludhiana knitwear cluster (2011), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, Tables 1.2, 1.4 and 2.3, IPCC AR6 WG1, global warming potentials, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (biogenic CO2 reported separately)

Last reviewed 2026-10-30. Cluster profile is from 2011. Update if a newer Ludhiana knitwear profile is published.