IS 17880 is not the standard for the filter fabric in a road drain. It is the Indian Standard for synthetic polymer rope gabions used to protect coasts and waterways, and the 2024 order that names it covers that one product, from 1 April 2025. A woven or nonwoven geotextile sold in India for drainage, separation, stabilisation or erosion control falls under the earlier Geo Textiles order, in force since 1 January 2024, and must carry the BIS Standard Mark.
This page sets out both geotextile QCOs as the Gazette of India published them, the Indian test method behind each property a buyer specifies, and a worked example that takes a soil grading to a fabric choice in this site’s own calculators.
The short version
- Geo Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2022: notified 10 April 2023, in force from 1 January 2024. It covers 19 products, each tied to an Indian Standard, and requires the Standard Mark under a BIS licence.
- Geotextiles (Quality Control) Order, 2024: notified 3 October 2024, in force from 1 April 2025. It covers one product, rope gabions to IS 17880:2022.
- No small-enterprise relaxation appears in the text of either order. Both exclude goods meant for export.
- The drainage, separation and erosion-control standards have been merged. IS 16362:2024 now supersedes IS 16391, IS 16392 and IS 16393 of 2015, which the 2022 order still names.
- Worked example: a silty sand with D85 = 0.35 mm and Cu = 5 tolerates a fabric opening (O95) of up to 0.56 mm; a nonwoven at 0.212 mm passes retention, clears the clogging check and is 600 times more permeable than the soil.
The two geotextile QCOs
| Geo Textiles (Quality Control) Order, 2022 | Geotextiles (Quality Control) Order, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Notification | S.O. 1706(E), dated 10 April 2023 (e-Gazette) | S.O. 4332(E), dated 3 October 2024 (e-Gazette) |
| In force | 1 January 2024 | 1 April 2025 |
| Products | 19 (listed below) | 1: synthetic polymer rope gabions for coastal and waterways protection |
| Standard | One Indian Standard per product | IS 17880:2022 |
| Small enterprises | No separate date in the order | No separate date in the order |
| Exports | Order does not apply to goods meant for export | Order does not apply to goods meant for export |
| Certification | Standard Mark under a BIS licence, Scheme-I of Schedule-II to the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018 | Same |
The 2022 order was meant to start 180 days after publication. An amendment of 24 May 2023 (S.O. 2331(E), e-Gazette) fixed 7 October 2023, and a second of 10 October 2023 (S.O. 4386(E), e-Gazette) moved it to 1 January 2024. Despite the “2022” in its title, the order was first published in April 2023. Both orders are made under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016, and in both BIS is the certifying and enforcing authority.
Some reports of the October 2024 textile orders mention 1 July 2025 for small and micro enterprises. The geotextiles order as published in the Gazette has no such clause; read the order, not the summary. BIS’s list of products under compulsory certification shows both geotextile orders, with no rescission, as at the date of this page.
The 19 products in the 2022 order
| # | Product | Indian Standard named in the order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laminated HDPE woven geomembrane for waterproof lining | IS 15351:2015 |
| 2 | PVC geomembranes | IS 15909:2020 |
| 3 | Needle-punched nonwoven geobags | IS 16653:2017 |
| 4 | Polypropylene multifilament woven geobags | IS 16654:2017 |
| 5 | Jute geotextiles, sub-grade strengthening in roads | IS 14715 (Part 1):2016 |
| 6 | Jute geotextiles, bank erosion control in rivers and waterways | IS 14715 (Part 2):2016 |
| 7 | Open weave coir bhoovastra | IS 15869:2020 |
| 8 | Geotextiles for sub-grade separation in pavement structures | IS 16391:2015 (now merged into IS 16362:2024) |
| 9 | Geotextiles for subsurface drainage | IS 16393:2015 (now merged into IS 16362:2024) |
| 10 | Geotextiles for sub-grade stabilisation in pavement structures | IS 16362:2020 (revised as IS 16362:2024) |
| 11 | HDPE geomembranes for lining | IS 16352:2020 |
| 12 | Geotextiles used as protection (cushioning) materials | IS 16090:2013 |
| 13 | Geotextiles for permanent erosion control in hard armour systems | IS 16392:2015 (now merged into IS 16362:2024) |
| 14 | Geogrids for flexible pavements | IS 17371:2020 |
| 15 | Polymeric strips (geostrips) for soil reinforcement in retaining structures | IS 17372:2020 |
| 16 | Geogrids for reinforced soil retaining structures | IS 17373:2020 |
| 17 | Reinforced HDPE membrane for effluent and chemical-resistant lining | IS 17374:2020 |
| 18 | Geocells, load-bearing | IS 17483 (Part 1):2020 |
| 19 | Geocells, slope erosion protection | IS 17483 (Part 2):2020 |
IS 17880: what it covers and what it does not
BIS’s record for IS 17880:2022 gives its title as a specification for synthetic polymer rope gabions for coastal and waterways protection. It is a new, indigenous product specification from the Geosynthetics Sectional Committee, TXD 30. The Indian Standards it refers to are a sampling standard (IS 4905), a polypropylene fibre-rope specification (IS 5175) and a fibre-rope test method (IS 17967). None of them measures opening size, permittivity or puncture resistance: the tests that matter for a rope gabion are rope tests.
Amendment No. 1 to IS 17880 rewords the requirement for strength retained after a 168-hour saline-water cyclic corrosion test. BIS’s implementation circular of 21 April 2026 calls it a clarification, sets 28 June 2026 as the last date of implementation, and says that after that date no licence is granted, and no licence’s scope changed, without considering it.
The standards behind the 2022 order have moved
For a drain, separator or filter fabric, the standard that matters is now IS 16362:2024, a second revision covering subsurface drainage, subgrade separation, subgrade stabilisation, filtration and erosion control in hard armour systems. BIS lists it as superseding IS 15910:2010, IS 16391:2015, IS 16392:2015 and IS 16393:2015, and its catalogue now marks IS 16393:2015 as withdrawn.
Amendment No. 1 to IS 16362:2024 introduced a 50% strain rate for classes 1H, 2H and 3H, changed an apparent opening size value from 0.85 to 0.085 and corrected the test reference for flow normal to the plane. Licensees had to implement it by 8 February 2026 (BIS circular, 26 November 2025).
The 2022 order says the latest version of each listed standard applies from its publication. The order’s schedule and BIS’s compulsory-certification list still print the 2015 numbers, though. Before you sign a supply contract, ask the supplier which standard its BIS licence names, and check the licence on BIS’s Know Your Standards page, which lists the licences held under each standard.
The test method behind each property
These are the methods IS 16362:2024 refers to, with the ISO counterpart BIS gives where it gives one. Each Indian method was confirmed in BIS’s catalogue; none of their text is reproduced here.
| Property | Indian method | ISO counterpart (per BIS) |
|---|---|---|
| Apparent opening size, O95, by dry sieving | IS 14294:2024 | None listed; ISO 12956 measures a different quantity (below) |
| Permittivity, flow normal to the plane | IS 14324:2025 | ISO 11058:2019 |
| Grab breaking load and elongation | IS 16342:2015 | None listed |
| Trapezoid tearing strength | IS 14293:2024 | None listed |
| Static (CBR) puncture | IS 16078:2013 | ISO 12236 |
| Dynamic perforation (cone drop) | IS 13162 (Part 4):2026 | ISO 13433:2025 (identical) |
| In-plane flow | IS 17179 (Part 1) and (Part 2):2025 | ISO 12958-2:2020 |
| Sampling and specimen preparation | IS 14706:2024 | ISO 9862:2023 |
| Installation damage | IS 17420:2020 | ISO 10722:2019 |
The tensile test IS 16362 refers to for the fabric is the grab method. ISO’s tensile test for geosynthetics is the wide-width method, ISO 10319, a different test on a different specimen, so a grab figure and a wide-width figure cannot be compared. The geotextile tensile strength calculator works from the wide-width figure. The US counterparts are ASTM D4751 for opening size, D4491 for permittivity, D4632 for grab strength and D6241 for CBR puncture.
Worked example: from a soil grading to a fabric
The inputs below are invented for this page. A silty sand subgrade beside a highway is to be drained by a trench drain wrapped in geotextile. Sieve analysis gives D10 = 0.04 mm, D15 = 0.055 mm, D30 = 0.09 mm, D60 = 0.20 mm and D85 = 0.35 mm, with 20% passing the 0.075 mm sieve. Groundwater flows steadily towards the drain; there is no wave or tidal reversal.
Step 1: the largest opening this soil will tolerate
The soil gradation retention calculator applies the gradation-based retention rule from the US Federal Highway Administration’s geosynthetics manual (Holtz, Christopher and Berg, Geosynthetic Design and Construction Guidelines, FHWA NHI-07-092, 2008), as reproduced in section 20.6.1 of the South Carolina DOT Geotechnical Design Manual. For sand-like soils, the opening size must not exceed B × D85, and B depends on the uniformity coefficient Cu = D60/D10: B = 1 when Cu is 2 or less or 8 or more; B = 0.5 × Cu between 2 and 4; B = 8/Cu between 4 and 8. A well-graded soil bridges its own pores, so it tolerates a larger opening than a uniform one.
| What the calculator shows | Value |
|---|---|
| Uniformity coefficient, Cu | 5.00 |
| Curvature coefficient, Cc | 1.01 |
| Retention criterion multiplier, B | 1.60 × D85 |
| Maximum permissible O95 | 0.56 mm |
Open the calculator with these inputs. Had the same D85 belonged to a uniform sand (Cu of 2 or less), B would be 1.0 and the limit 0.35 mm.
Step 2: which opening sizes pass
Entering each candidate O95 in the same calculator gives two ratios. Retention is the fabric’s O95 over the 0.56 mm limit, and must not exceed 1.00. Clogging is O95 over D15; the calculator’s notes treat values above about 3 as the comfortable range, because a fabric much tighter than the soil’s fine fraction can blind.
| Fabric O95 (mm) | Retention ratio | Clogging ratio (O95/D15) | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.600 | 1.07 | 10.91 | Too open: fails retention |
| 0.425 | 0.76 | 7.73 | Passes the grading rule |
| 0.300 | 0.54 | 5.45 | Passes the grading rule |
| 0.212 | 0.38 | 3.85 | Passes both, with margin |
| 0.150 | 0.27 | 2.73 | Retains, but below the clogging comfort range |
| 0.106 | 0.19 | 1.93 | Retains, risk of blinding |
A cross-check: FHWA’s simpler selection table for roadside channel filters, which goes by soil type alone (HEC-15, third edition, Table 6.2) caps the opening at 0.25 mm for a non-cohesive soil with 15 to 50% passing 0.075 mm. The grading rule is more generous for this soil, but a fabric at 0.212 mm satisfies both.
Step 3: check that water gets through
Retention is half the job; the fabric must also pass water freely. Take a candidate nonwoven with O95 = 0.212 mm, 2.0 mm thick and permeability 0.003 m/s, against the soil’s 0.000005 m/s, at 0.05 m of head. The geotextile AOS and permittivity calculator returns:
| What the calculator shows | Value |
|---|---|
| Retention ratio, O95/D85 | 0.61 |
| Permeability ratio, fabric/soil | 600.00 |
| Permittivity | 1.50 per second |
| Flow at 0.05 m head | 75.00 L/s per m² (270,000.00 L/h per m²) |
| Soil particles per opening, D85/O95 | 1.65 |
Open it with these inputs. This calculator’s headline test (O95/D85 at or below 1) is the plain B = 1 rule; step 1 allows B = 1.6 for this soil, and 0.61 passes either way. The South Carolina manual, after FHWA, asks for fabric permeability at least equal to the soil’s in less critical, less severe jobs, and ten times the soil’s where the job is critical or conditions severe; 600 clears both. Its permittivity table asks for at least 0.2 per second when 15 to 50% of the soil passes 0.075 mm; 1.50 clears that too.
Step 4: write it as a purchase specification
- Opening size: AOS (O95) not more than 0.56 mm by IS 14294; aim near 0.21 mm to keep clear of blinding.
- Permittivity: at least 0.2 per second by IS 14324.
- Strength, tear and puncture: the IS 16362:2024 class the contract requires for installation survivability, by the methods in the table above.
- The BIS Standard Mark, with a licence that names the standard you are buying to.
The rule assumes steady flow. The South Carolina manual classes dynamic, cyclic or pulsating flow as a severe condition, and gap-graded, pipable or dispersive soils likewise. For those, the calculator’s own notes advise a filtration test rather than a formula.
Why AOS and O90 are not the same number
An Indian or US test report gives apparent opening size, O95, measured by sieving glass beads dry through the fabric (IS 14294; ASTM D4751, whose scope describes dry-sieving glass beads). A European report gives O90 from ISO 12956, which uses the wet-sieving principle: a graded granular material is washed through the fabric with water. The particle, the percentile and the mechanism all differ.
When researchers at the University of Patras tested more than 50 nonwoven polypropylene geotextiles from eight manufacturers by both methods, dry sieving gave consistently larger openings than wet sieving, by an average of 30% for O95 and 35% for O90. They put the gap down to glass beads lodging in the fabric and to static charge (Atmatzidis et al., 8th International Conference on Geosynthetics, 2006). So a wet-sieved O90 cannot be checked against a limit written for dry-sieved AOS, or the reverse. Ask for the method the specification names.
How this page is kept
Last verified: 3 October 2026. The dates, notification numbers, product list and exemptions are read from the orders in the e-Gazette of India; standard titles, supersessions, cross-references and amendment dates from BIS’s catalogue and circulars; the retention and permeability rules from the state DOT manual cited above; and the worked figures from this site’s calculators. This page describes the instruments; it is not legal advice for a particular product or contract. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.
