The state industries and commerce minister KT Rama Rao recently announced that in order to free around 2,500 handloom weavers from debt, the government will spend Rs 10 crore in the scheme. Even repaying the loans will also get benefit. The waiver scheme includes the loans taken by handloom weaver’s upto one lakh. He said, “The government will waive farmer’s loans upto Rs. One lakh from nationalized bank and direct cooperative central banks as working capital for handloom production from January 2014 to March 2017.”

Allotment of Rs 1,270 crore to the handloom and powerloom industry in the 2017-18 budget to uplift the sector which was affected by inadequate raw material supply and marketing, stiff competition from mills, and obsolete technology, he said.

Further, the objective behind this allocation was to safeguard the sectors providing sustainable employment, the welfare of weavers, and to provide alternate sources of livelihood to the poor unemployed, he added.

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel