First handloom design centre to come up in Chennai

In a bid to provide a boost to the handloom sector, the first handloom design centre will be set up in Chennai in a couple of months under the aegis of the union Textile Ministry.

This design centre would impart training to weavers in combining traditional skills with contemporary requirements of skill upgradation, besides innovating new designs, M Sivakkannan, chairman, Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC), told Business Standard.

"The first centre would come up in Chennai which would be linked to Karur via satellite. Based on its success, it will be extended to other towns such as Kannur (Kerala), Panipet and Kekra (Uttar Pradesh) and Madurai, which the Commerce Ministry had declared as towns of export excellence," he added.

The handloom sector in Tamil Nadu has huge potential, but the productivity is low. The handloom industry could do well in the emerging home furnishing segment provided it has adequate pre-loom and post-loom fabric processing facilities, Sivakkannan added.

More than 2.11 lakh handloom units are functioning in Tamil Nadu which produced 1,083.26 lakh metres of handloom cloth valued at Rs 559.72 crore during the year 2004-05. The increase of sales of handloom cloth was worth Rs 121.97 crore in 2004-05, compared to the sales during the previous year.

To prevent duplication in the handloom products, the union Textile Ministry has asked the Textile Committee to develop a mark for handloom products and brand them on a national basis.

"The proposal was made earlier this year and the process is in its final stage of completion. The branding would ensure that only quality handloom goods could be exported," he said.

Karur is a major market for handloom home textiles in the state which exports goods to the tune of Rs 1,500 to 2,000 crore with the major importers being most of the European countries, US and Australia. So it would be an apt place to link with, he added.