To boost marketing and exports of of handloom products, the textile Textiles ministry will be announcing a revamped national programme next year, a senior textile ministry official said
“As the national handloom development programme is coming to an end by the end of FY26, we will launch a programme with additional aspects with thrust on new-age marketing while taking into consideration sustainability aspects of the sector,” M Beena, Development Commissioner- handlooms, told FE.
Focusing on the Traditional market
The government is currently relying on traditional market channels such as mela, exhibitions and events across state and national level, for boosting sales, among the younger buyers. The ministry has now developed a dedicated portal – indiahandmade.com – in collaboration with Digital India scheme under the ministry of information and technology for boosting online sales of cloth and artefact.
“Whenever weavers list products on platforms such as Amazon, small players pay high commission. Our portal has no commission for hosting products and shipping charges which are paid from the National Handloom Development Fund,” Beena said. So far, 2362 sellers have registered on the portal and 15,257 product profiles have been displayed.
To ensure that products are genuinely hand-woven by skilled artisans, the ministry has introduced ‘Handloom Mark’ , a certification mark that guarantees the authenticity of products.
Under the ‘India Handloom Brand’, certification is provided to products with higher yarn count.
Financial assistance
At present, under the national programme that has been implemented since 2021-22, financial assistance is provided to eligible handloom agencies, weavers for raw materials, procurement of upgraded looms and accessories and also for technical and common infrastructure. Marketing of products in domestic and international markets, concessional loans under weavers’ MUDRA scheme and social security etc are also covered.
Beena said under the yarn supply scheme, the ministry provides 15% price subsidy on yarn cost and transportation for raw material supplies. At present there are estimated 35 lakh weavers in the country.
A monthly pension of Rs 8,000 is provided to all the awardee handloom weavers above 60 years of age. In addition, a scholarship up to Rs.2 lakh per annum is provided to handloom weavers’ children for diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses of central or state government recognized textiles institutions.
In 2024-25, exports of handlooms products were valued at Rs 1,178 crore.
As many as 106 handloom products have been granted geographical Indication (GI) tag while 21 applications have been submitted to GI registry.
Under the handloom marketing assistance component of the National Handloom Development Programme, this year 24 handloom weavers will be awarded Sant Kabir Awards (5) and National Handloom Awards (19) on the occasion of National Handloom day on August 7.