NHDC to 'weave' magic in SAARC countries

National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) is gearing up to weave the magic of handloom in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, particularly Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

NHDC will organise handloom exhibitions in the SAARC countries to popularise natural fabrics for the benefit of domestic weavers and handloom units.

“We will organise these fairs on trial basis first and depending upon the response, the future strategy would be charted,” NHDC Managing Director J K Baweja told Business Standard here.

The Corporation had planned to organise these events in Pakistan and Sri Lanka during the current fiscal itself. However, it was deferred due to the prevailing political situation in these countries.

Such fairs will also be organised in some South East Asian locations, such as Singapore.

NHDC provides raw material subsidy and other logistics support to unorganised artisans and weavers, thereby protecting them from the cartel of middlemen and suppliers. The raw material support include wool, cotton, rayon, yarn, silk, dyes and chemicals. To provide marketing support to artisans and promote handloom, the Corporation organises exhibitions all over the country. This year, 15 handloom fairs have so far been organised, while the one at Hyderabad was deferred due to Telangana stir.

“During 2010-11, we plan to organise at least 20 exhibitions in India,” Baweja said.

Meanwhile, NHDC is targeting a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in the current fiscal, up from Rs 830 crore during 2008-09, despite economic slowdown in the national and international markets.

NHDC owns exclusive marketing complexes in Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Kanpur, Hyderabad and Jaipur. More such complexes would be set up in the next fiscal.

The Corporation works in tandem with Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) for aiding the export oriented handloom units. Some of the proposed initiatives of NHDC are pending for approval before the Centre, he added. In India, the handloom sector employs over 35 million people and is one of the largest employment generators after agriculture.