The history of fabric production in India is as old as the Indian civilisation itself. Textile machinery manufacture falls to a much later age - the age of industrialisation. Initially India's Textile Mill Industry depended almost exclusively on imported machines.

The foundation for manufacture of complete textile machinery was laid only in the decade 1940 – 1950 and a few units were set up at the instance of the Government during this period. But the actual progress in manufacturing textile machinery commenced in the subsequent decade. Thereafter the industry grew rapidly with Government’s active encouragement and statutory protection both in the form of a tariff wall and import ban of items manufactured indigenously. This gave a stimulus to indigenous production of textile machinery as well as components and accessories mainly with technical arrangements with reputed foreign machine builders in Europe, U.K., U.S.A and Japan.

As the industry grew, a pressing need for setting up of a representative organisation at the national level was felt. It is at the instance of the Government of India the idea of setting up of an Association for textile machinery was conceived. Thus on May 2, 1958 the Textile Machinery Manufacturers' Association was born at Calcutta with a membership of just 9 manufacturers of textile machinery, with its headquarters in the office of the then Engineering Association of India. Subsequently the Association's headquarters were shifted to Mumbai in February 1960.