Handloom Industry in India: Problems and Prospects

The handloom sector in India has been a very important source of livelihood to a large number of people since ancient times which attained its peak during the Mughal period owing to the practice of flexible manufacturing system at that time. The sector saw its decline during the British period as a consequence of their unfavourable policy. In present times this sector again assumes special significance in the light of launching ‘Make in India’ campaign by our hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. It is believed that handloom sector may significantly contribute to the generation of output, employment and export earnings in our economy by transforming this sector to create enough space for those seeking better and decent work opportunities in our economy. Using secondary sources of data an attempt has been made in this paper to present an overview of this sector and examine various problems faced by this sector and different programmes and policies of the government of India for encouraging and promoting this sector.