ABSTRACT The present study is an attempt to evaluate the potentiality of a specified variety of banana fiber (Musa domestica var. balbisiana) for textile use. Retting period for extraction of the newer variety was optimized as 28 days in water. The extracted fibers were found to have cellulose content (58.5%), hemicelluloses (13.1%), lignin (7.4%) along with high fat and waxes (1.2%) and moisture (13.1%). SEM of the retted fibers demonstrated it to be a multicellular having lumen in each cell making it porous in the structure having hexagonal fibrils running through the axis. Bleaching improved the cellulose content (65%) fineness, and length diameter ratio, from 915 to 1147. The tensile strength (34.86 cN/tex), elongation (2.4%) and initial modulus (1727.7 cN/tex) of the retted fiber was reduced after bleaching. One hundred percent banana yarn was not strong enough for subsequent mechanical processes. Banana fibers can be processable in long staple jute processing system on their blending with ramie fiber having banana fiber content about 50% to produce fine blend yarn (213 tex) of tenacity 15.71 cN/tex at spinning speed 3500 rpm. It can also be concluded that banana fiber, which is till now being wasted after harvesting of fruits, showed good potential for value-added textiles.