National Textile Corporation Limited (NTC) has organised the buyers’ sellers meet, the second in the row in Mumbai. The ultimate aim of theses meets is to build the gap between the modern retail and the handloom clusters with the participation of the government and other institutions under the Ministry of Textiles.
Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Textiles on this occasion said, “The overall textile industry has a CAGR of 5 percent per annum, the apparel in particular is marked by a growth of 15 percent, however, the handloom sector in particular has a negative growth. Even handicrafts have shown a positive growth and have a huge export potential”.
The handloom sector has a huge domestic and export potential which can be marked by same number of looms in the handloom and powerloom sector, but when it comes to the share of production, the powerloom sector accounts for 60 percent for the production, while the handloom sector only accounts for 11 percent.
The Secretary said that office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms) will optimise itself by providing an interface and bridging the gap between the clusters and buyers. National Handloom Development Corporation Ltd. (NHDC) will boost the business by facilitating the procurement of clusters. The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) will ensure maximum participation of brands, retailers and designers. This together will help promoting handloom products in the domestic market. NTC is in the process of integrating the clusture’s to promote initiatives like “Brand India” for the handloom sector in India.
While announcing the various initiatives to promote handlooms sector, the Secretary, Textiles said that more such meetings would be held in future and specific initiatives like holding of design conference, going viral on social media would also be taken up, Miss India handloom shall soon be introduced and the July 1st will be declared as Handloom Day for creating an awareness and belongingness towards this sector.
