Handloom Industry

  1. Major provider of rural non-farm employment, with minimal infrastructure cost
  2. Also potential for market growth – domestic and export demand increasing
  3. Inclusive production process
  4. Low entry barriers – not capital intensive

Organization of Production

  1. Weavers working with master-weavers
    -credit, marketing, design functions, wage controlled by master weaver.
  2. 40% of weavers have access to co-operative structure
    -credit provided by state, apex marketing body performing badly, design support by independent state bodies,
  3. Independent weaver groups

Gaps

  1. Linkages of production systems have broken down
  2. Lack of institutional support - design, training, credit, technology research
  3. Problems with State/Industry relations: non-performance of State in policy, data collection, funding research.
  4. Norms of market not small producer friendly: not reflecting strengths of disaggregated production base e.g flexibility, strong identity

Investing in industry growth

  1. Invest in infrastructure as foundation for growth
  2. Invest in system design suitable to artisanal mode of production (eg., in technology)
  3. Develop requisite technological infrastructure
  4. Strengthen institutions (co-operatives)
  5. Build fresh links across production-marketing value chain to bring in new energy
  6. Build value for hand process and product