The handloom Industry is the largest industry in terms of employment, but in monetary terms it may not be having such importance. 38 lakh handlooms giving employment to about 65 lakh families; but contributing only 13% of our Textile production. When considering the foreign exchange earnings, it has considerable clout over other sectors of the industry because; it amounts to between Rs.3000crores to Rs.3500crores per annum. Since now the industrial world is worrying over the influence of the so called Global financial crisis; it is worth to think about our handloom industry and how it spares with the present global crisis and what will be its effects on in coming days.

The volume of Handloom Exports in monetary terms as published by Government of India up to 2007-08 (Tentative) and the eight year record may quoted as below:

% deviation

These figures show two points into consideration:

1. The average increase per year in exports during the period of quota regime was around 5%, and for some years it was decreasing.
2. After the phase out of quota systems the rate of exports increased per year above 20%,

Since in the present financial crisis the epicenter is USA, we have to analyse the country wise exports of handloom goods from India. It is as below in 2002-03 terms.

That means, the major export target for Handloom goods country wise is USA. The Handloom fabrics and made ups, we all know it is for the consumers who buy's the items mostly from various stores/ through retail chain stores. 95% of US retailers are the single store type and rest the chains like Wal-Mart, Ikea etc. The sales figures available with Retail sector, the annual sales in USA through retail is of 3.8 trillion dollars with a per capita purchase of 11993 dollars. The Average sales growth rate in retail in previous years is: