Country's eight big retail chains including, Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Fab India, Calico, Advantage Shilpi and UP Exporters Association are planning to partner with a group of weavers in Varanasi to acquire raw materials.
This program is being executed by retail chains in coordination with the Gandhinagar-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) under its Integrated Handloom Cluster Development Programme.
Retail chains have opted for Varanasi as it has the biggest group in country comprising 75,000 weavers and this program is supported by National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC).
NHDC is to set up mobile centre to provide weavers raw-material 20 percent less than prevailing market price.
Among the eight retailers, Fab India has decided to take 300 weavers on permanent basis.
This program will help weavers approach to the end customers as they are being exploited by middlemen, who pay mere Rs80 per day for clothe which is sold at Rs8,000, Dinesh Awasthi, Director of EDI stated.
To strengthen this program Textile Ministry and Development Commissioner of Handloom has ensured to provide Rs800 crore.
Under the International Centre for Cluster Competitiveness and Growth (IC3G), EDI has established 20 textile clusters in different parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu.
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