The Government has taken various steps to preserve and promote traditional textile Industry of Handlooms. Design Resource Centres have been set up in Weavers’ Service Centres at Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kancheepuram, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Meerut, Nagpur and Panipat to preserve traditional handloom designs, and to build and create design-oriented excellence in the Handloom Sector.

Ministry of Textiles is also seeking protection of traditional designs and patterns under the Geographical Indication (GI) Act, 1999. This Ministry provides financial assistance for registering the designs/products under the GI Act and for organizing seminars, workshops etc., for awareness creation.

Several States, including, West Bengal are rich in traditional textiles of Handlooms.

An all-India census was conducted in the year 2019 to determine number of Handloom Weavers, and ascertain the areas rich in traditional textiles i.e. Handlooms.

To promote the Handloom sector, Ministry of Textiles is implementing the following schemes across the country:

1. National Handloom Development Programme;
2. Raw Material Supply Scheme;

Under the above schemes, financial assistance is provided to the eligible handloom agencies/weavers for raw materials, common infrastructure development, marketing of handloom products in domestic/overseas markets, Weaver MUDRA Loans etc.

In addition to the above,

• Under Weaver MUDRA/Concessional Credit Scheme, margin money assistance at 20% of the loan amount subject to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- for individual weaver/Weaver Entrepreneur and Rs. 20 lakh for Handloom Organizations, interest subvention upto 7% and credit guarantee fees on loans for a period of three years are provided.
• Steps have been taken to on-board weavers and artisans on Government e-Market (GeM) place to enable them sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organizations. So far about 1.50 lakh weavers have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.

• Weavers are facilitated to sell their products online through indiahandmade portal and 23 e-commerce platforms have been associated by Ministry of Textiles under a policy framework.
• For export promotion of handloom products, Handloom Export Promotion Council has been organizing International Fairs.  During the year 2023-24, various international marketing fairs/events have been organised.  Besides, domestic marketing events were also organised in different parts of the country for the weavers to market and sell their products.
• To enhance productivity, marketing capabilities and ensure better incomes, 160 Handloom Producer companies have been formed in different States.

Funds are not allocated State-wise. The funds are released based on receipt of proposals from the State Governments and other Handloom organisations.

This information was provided by THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES SHRI PABITRA MARGHERITA in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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DHANYA SANAL K

(Lok Sabha US Q2979)

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