Andhra Pradesh handloom weavers struggle, APCO blames lack of funding

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Aug 27, 2019

Handloom weavers in Andhra Pradesh have seen the area’s textile industry suffer, with the State Federation of Weavers’ Cooperative Societies blaming the AP State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society which has in turn blamed the central government for a lack of funding, TNN reported.

Andhra Pradesh’s handloom sector accounts for 80% of India’s entire handloom sector but the number of looms in the state has dwindled from 2.2 lakh to 1.4 lakh, according to the central government.

The State Federation of Weavers’ Cooperative Societies has said that APCO has failed to pay the area’s co-operative societies and that this has led to weavers being out of work. APCO has stated that the central government has not released funds for them and that is why the organisation cannot pay the weavers. 

The State Federation of Weavers’ Cooperative Societies has also asked the central government to allow for tax benefits to the sector to help revive it and keep it alive.

“We want the Centre to revoke GST and make handloom tax-free,” the organisation’s chairperson Donthamsetty Virupaksham told TNN.

“People are abandoning handloom as it has become non-profitable. District Cooperative Central Bank came to the rescue of weavers’ societies by giving working capital in the form of cash credit which was sanctioned by Nabard as part of revolving credit system.”