Tata Trusts, Microsoft join hands to support handloom weaving community

Tata Trusts and Microsoft India Wednesday inked a pact to to jointly rejuvenate handloom clusters in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country.

Both the entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard, Tata Trusts and Microsoft India said in a joint statement.

As part of the collaboration, Tata Trusts and Microsoft will leverage each other's strengths to provide business and communication skills, design education and digital literacy to handloom weavers so that they may build a sustainable future.

"Through this initiative, we want to empower artisans and bring them up to par making them competitive in the industry," Tata Trusts Chief Program Director R Pavithra Kumar said.

Microsoft India CVP Cloud & Enterprise and Managing Director Anil Bhansali said the company is focused on reviving some of the forgotten and fading handloom forms in India's textile heritage as part of its philanthropy programs in India.

"Our partnership with Tata Trusts will help reach down to the grass-root level of the weaver clusters and train them, hence building a digitally inclusive society. We aim to use our Project Sangam to empower the weavers across India so that they can adopt and deploy digital tools to improve their craft," he added.