In a bid to double its growth in handloom, the Gujarat State Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (GSHHDC) is aiming to train over 200 tribals in the non-traditional areas like Narmada and Navsari region.
Alarmed by the dwindling number of artisans the state-owned corporation, which saw a rise in the share of handloom in its turnover, is on a training spree across the state. "We saw that the number of artisans who could skillfully weave some of the exclusive handloom crafts was reducing. The market for handloom has begun to grow just recently and would require more volumes. Therefore, we have started developing the weaving crafts in non-traditional handloom areas like tribal regions of Narmada and Navsari," said SK Chaturvedi, managing director of GSHHDC.
GSHHDC supports the handicrafts and handloom artisans through various schemes, procures the produce from the artisans and markets it under the brand name of Garvi Gurjari across the nation. Currently, the corporation runs around 22 Garvi Gujarat emporiums in cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, and Rajkot, among others.
Set up since 1973, it is only the recent past that GSHHDC has seen a considerable growth in its sales. For instance, in 2006-07, the corporation registered a sales growth of 40 per cent over 2005-06. During 2005-06 the corporation had registered total sales of Rs 7.50 crore. However, during 2006-07 the sales have taken a major jump when GSHHDC posted a turnover of Rs 10.60 crore.
GSHHDC has six procurement centres in Gujarat where the artisans can sell their produce including Sankheda, Palanpur, Patan, Gandhinagar, Bhuj and Ahmedabad and 19 showrooms including two in Ahmedabad, two in Kolkata, one each in Anand, Bangalore, Baroda, Bhuj, Bharuch, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Rajpipla, Rajkot, Surat and Surendranagar.
Corporation also provides raw materials to the artisans and also the subsidy to buy or upgrade tools and machines.
