The Government should help weavers and craftspersons get easier credit from banks and financial institutions and also promote their products in domestic and foreign markets, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday.

“Products in this sector remain vulnerable to competition from cheaper imports and machine-made substitutes. We must give more attention to development of capacity, skills, designs and infrastructure,” Mukherjee said at an awards function for weavers and artisans on Tuesday.

Disadvantaged segment Weavers and craftspersons are disadvantaged by inadequate access to credit, dependence on middlemen, inadequate availability of raw material, outdated technology and limited access to markets, the President said.

The textile sector is the second largest employer in the country after agriculture. The handlooms sector, with 24 lakh handlooms, provides employment to about 44 lakh people while the handicrafts sector provides employment to about 70 lakh.

“Between 2010 and the present, it is seen that despite the overall slowdown in the Indian economy, there was a growth of 34 per cent in exports from the handlooms sector and 126 per cent in exports from the handicrafts sector,” the President said.

Textile clusters The Minister of State for Textiles (Independent Charge) Santosh Gangwar said the Government had approved two mega textile clusters at Guntur and Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh and Godda in Jharkhand. These are in addition to the previously sanctioned four mega clusters, he added.

The Ministry is supporting setting up of a raw material bank to facilitate easy and regular availability of certified raw material to artisans, the Minister said.

Marketing infra The Government is also making efforts to broaden existing marketing infrastructure so that artisans and weavers continue to get opportunities to sell their products throughout the year, he added.

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