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Need to introduce Intellectual Property protection for the Handloom weaver, said Ms Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles, Government of India
Dec 12, 2016

Handloom is our legacy, the potential of which need to be positioned an acknowledged not only domestically but also globally, said Ms Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles, Government of India. She was speaking at the conference Creating Handloom 2.0 - “Realizing the potential of the Indian Handloom Industry” organized by ‘Confederation of Indian Industry’ in New Delhi today.

Minister emphasized that every weaver has their unique designs and craftsmanship which needs to be protected and acknowledged. It is important to ensure a framework where Intellectual protection rights can be introduced and ensured for handloom weavers.

Handlooms is not an area of select few, said Ms Irani. When the industry comes together with the weaver an expeditious journey can take place.  She cited the example of BIBA a domestic retail brands who procured 2 lakh meters of handloom cloth in August and came up with two new collections in November.

Growing forward, Made –up is the next entity in the sector that has immense value and potential and needs attention.

She also emphasized in the need for the product development in the sector. She informed that under ‘India handloom brand’ launched by honorable Prime minister, 60 natural dyes and chemical free dyes have been registered so far.

Delivering his keynote address on ‘Realizing the potential of the Indian Handloom Industry’ Mr Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner – Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles pointed out that with structured interventions in skills, technology, design and innovation, branding and marketing the sector the sector has potential to scale up to a market size to about Rs 4 lakh crore from estimated size of 1 lakh crore at present in next 6-7 years. This would further help in releasing a 5-7 times higher wages to the artisans, he added.   With proper branding and publicity of the sector the exports can be scaled up at least 4 top 5 times in next 5 years, he stressed.

With the current devolution of power with 13th Finance commission, the states will have a greater role to play in realizing  the potential of the sector. He urged the industry to support in bringing the market intelligence and strengthening marketing linkages in terms of reduced intermediation would immensely support the sector in realizing the potential.

In her Special Address Ms Jaya Jaitly , Founder & President, Dastkari Haat Samiti, said that to taking  Indian handlooms global would require a demonetization kind of steps for the handloom sector. Exploring endless possibilities of product innovation along with steps towards enhancing the quality and standards and effective Branding of the Handloom sector will be essential for taking handlooms global, she added.

Delivering her special address on the occasion Ms Sarada G Muraleedharan, Director General, National Institute of Fashion Technology said “today biggest change driver in the world is technology which is becoming more and more disruptive than years ago.’  Getting a global footprint in such a scenario would require an approach of ‘Co-creation’ to contemporize where the weaver and designer both come together to designer and innovate. 

On the initiatives of NIFT to support to contemporize handloom and getting a global footprint, she informed that of the various collaborations and initiatives of NIFT such as crafts cluster initiative in support with Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts & Handlooms) for integrating the crafts sector of the country with the mainstream, an incubation center with handloom export promotion council for product and business development to help start  up India initiative, setting up a design studio in a hub and spokes model that would help various crafts cluster in building the design ideas .

Ms Ritu Beri, Advisor, Khadi and Village Industries Commission, hailed India as a ‘treasure trove ‘of design and innovation for fashion industry offering a gamut of unique varieties in jewels, textiles, handlooms, dyes etc for the fashion industry. Sharing her experiences in the fashion designing field, she said “I started doing fashion designing 25 years ago, my first collection was in Khadi’. Khadi is a national fabric, said Beri, the fabric is refreshing and eco-friendly and emphasized on taking it to the young generation.

Welcome Address and moderating the session Mr Gautam Nair, Co Chairman – CII National Committee on Apparel & Managing Director – Matrix Clothing Pvt Ltd said that Time for building brand India is now and this will require all the levers is skills, product development, technology, and marketing to take Indian handlooms to global level 

Renowned designers, Suket Dhir, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rahul Mishra, David Abraham also joined the discussions.

12 December 2016

New Delhi 

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