Almost 70% handloom households earn less than Rs 5,000 a month; govt doing this to promote handloom

A majority of households employed in handloom work earn less than Rs 5,000 a month, according to 4th All India Handloom Census 2019-2020. The total number of handloom worker households is nearly 31.4 lakh, Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Textiles, said in a written reply during Rajya Sabha session. The last survey was conducted in 2009-2010 and there has been a rise in handloom worker households since then from 27.8 lakh to 31.4 now. In 2009-2010, households were earning an average of Rs 3,042 per month and it was estimated that 99% of all weaver households earned less than Rs 5,000 per month.

Only 1.2% of handloom worker households are earning above 20,001 which is the highest income category. Upon being asked about the steps that the government has undertaken in order to promote the sector, it said that various schemes have been implemented to aid the sector’s growth. This includes the National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP), Comprehensive Handloom Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS), Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS) and Yarn Supply Scheme (YSS).

The government is providing financial assistance for raw materials, purchase of looms and accessories, design innovation, product diversification, and infrastructure development under the above mentioned schemes. Also, the financial aid will help with skill upgradation, lighting units, marketing of handloom products and taking loan at concessional rates. 

Under the NHDP scheme Introduced in 2015-16, financial assistance upto Rs 2 crore per BLC for various interventions is provided. The proposals are recommended by the respective state government. Under the Weaver Mudra Scheme, credit at concessional interest rate of 6% is provided to the handloom weavers. 

Further, the government is also promoting handloom sales via the help of e-commerce. “In order to promote e-marketing of handloom products, a policy framework was designed and under which any willing e-commerce platform with a good track record can participate in online marketing of handloom products,” the minister said. Currently, 23 e-commerce entities are engaged for online marketing of handloom products.