Diamond-wire-sawing (DWS) technique allows slicing of silicon ingots to produce wafers at cheaper price due to its reduced kerf-loss and increased cutting rate. However, there is no cost-effective and industrially viable method available for texturing DWS wafers, especially for multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers. Currently additive-based acid texturing process is availed by PV manufacturing units for texturing DWS me-Si wafers. An additive-free, low cost and energy-efficient acid texturing process is demonstrated for DWS me-Si wafers in industrial production line. Nearly 10% absolute reduction in weighted average reflectance values (WAR) are noticed for the newly textured wafers from that of as-cut DWS me-Si wafers and the WAR values are comparable to that of existing additive-based acid textured me-Si wafers. An absolute reduction in emitter saturation current density by similar to 17 fA - cm(-2) and improved implied open circuit voltage of similar to 5 mV (absolute) are reported for lifetime sample fabricated using newly textured wafers when compared to the additive-based acid textured lifetime samples. An impressive batch average efficiencies of 18.20% and 18.24% are achieved for the additivefree and existing additive-based acid textured me-Si cells, respectively. Detailed analysis conclude that similar to 1.5% (relative) enhancement in short circuit current density can be achieved by further process optimization. Cost analysis indicates that 60% of the chemical cost involved the texturing process can be cut down by replacing the existing additive-based acid process with the new method using the same process equipment. Hence, the texturing process presented has great potential for producing large area high efficiency me-Si cells favoring cost considerations without compromising performance.