The Ministry of Textiles (MoT) has said that it is aware of the condition of weavers across the country and in order to come out of the COVID 19 pandemic situation and for welfare of handloom weavers, many initiatives have been taken in the recent times.
Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani informed about these initiatives in Rajya Sabha (upper house) – initiatives from various ministries, Government agencies, e-commerce entities and many other stakeholders.
To promote e-marketing of handloom products, 23 e-commerce entities have been engaged for online marketing of handloom products and so far, total sale of Rs. 123.97 crore has been reported through the portals.
India Handloom brand, which was launched on 7 August 2015, has so far issued 1,590 registrations under 184 product categories and generated sale of Rs. 1046.52 crore.
To support the handloom and handicraft sectors and to enable wider market for handloom weavers/artisans/producers, steps have been taken to on-board weavers/artisans on Government e-Market place (GeM) to enable them to sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organisations.
So far about 1.5 lakh weavers have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.
At the same time, to enhance productivity and marketing capabilities and ensure higher returns on weavers’ through collective efforts and pooling of resources, 109 handloom producer companies have been formed in different states.
Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) has organised various virtual events facilitating marketing and sales of handloom products in the domestic as well as international markets.
National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP), Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS), Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS) and Yarn Supply Scheme (YSS) are some of the main schemes for handloom sector, implemented by MoT.
During the 2019-20, handloom export of India was US $ 315.62 million (Rs. 2,248.33 crore).
