In order to provide loans at concessional rate to handloom weavers, the Government of India (GoI) has approved Institutional Credit component under Integrated Handlooms Development Scheme (IHDS) on 18th December 2011, wherein the GoI is providing margin money assistance @ Rs.4200/- per weaver, interest subvention @ 3% p.a. for 3 years from the date of the first disbursal and credit guarantee through Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).
This scheme is applicable to all handloom weavers, including weavers belonging to schedule caste (SC) and schedule tribes (STs). Further, Finance Minister has announced loan to handloom sector at 6% interest rate in the budget of 2013-14. Besides, handloom weaving falls under the category of priority sector lending.
Indian Institutes of Handloom
There are five central Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT) located at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Salem (Tamil Nadu), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Guwahati (Assam) and Bargarh (Orissa).
IIHTs have also been set up in the state sector by the respective State Governments with one time partial support of the Government of India. IIHT Venkatagiri (Andhra Pradesh), IIHT Kannur (Kerala), IIHT Gadag-Betagiri (Karnataka), IIHT Champa (Chhattisgarh) are functioning in the state sector.
The Government has proposed to establish an IIHT at Shantipur in West Bengal in the central sector under XII five year plan. Currently no new IIHT is proposed to be set up in the country including the State of Bihar.
Concentration of weavers, production of handloom items and requirement of trained and qualified manpower for handloom industry are the main criteria to establish IIHTs at a particular location.
There is no proposal to open an institute on the lines of NIFT.
The above information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha recently.
