Textiles Minister disbands AIHB, registers products with ‘India Handloom Brand’

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 18, 2020

The government has decided to disband the All India Handloom Board and the All India Handicrafts Board, following a review and is promoting handloom goods with other initiatives.

The two AIHBs have been disbanded in favour of other methods of promoting ‘Make in India’ handloom goods, the government informed parliament on Thursday, ET Bureau reported. The Textiles Ministry is focusing on working with Weavers’ Service Centres and State Handloom departments moving forward.
 
“The assessment revealed that weavers from across the nation did not benefit from the Board which barely met, and did not take weavers across all States into confidence,” Textiles Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani, wrote in a written reply to a question posed in the Rajya Sabha.

“There was no contribution from the board as regards policy formulation and its implementation.”
 
Irani also informed that the ministry has registered 1,590 products in over 180 product categories under the ‘India Handloom Brand’.

The brand is designed to promote niche handloom products which are both high quality and environmentally friendly.
 
Irani reported that Handloom India Brand goods have generated sales of Rs 926.23 crore ($139.2 million). She also reported that, as part of the ministry’s work with 23 e-commerce platforms to market handloom goods online, Rs 110.46 crore sales have been generated.
 
The Textiles Ministry also revealed that it plans to revive its Janata Scheme and is holding discussions on proposed Mega Textile Parks.

Irani said that employment is the handloom industry has increased compared to a decade ago and that there will be specific employment opportunities in the technical textiles industry in the future.