 Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd., popularly called APCO was set up to protect the interest of handloom weavers in the state. In 1975-76 there were 1,024 cooperative societies, but with efforts from APCO it shot up to 2,115 by 1982-83.
This enormous increase can be attributed to the initiative of the Government which encouraged setting up of cooperative societies in order to grow the sector. Now the employees of APCO are all set to receive increased salaries as per the revised pay scales of 2005.
The turnover of APCO has increased from Rs 750.69 million in 2003-04 to Rs 1160.38 million in 2006-07 and is expected to touch Rs 1560 million in the current fiscal. With the introduction of revised pay scales the expenditure on salary and allowances is expected to reach Rs 9.9 million per month.
APCO was set up basically to extend marketing support to its affiliated Primary Cooperative Weavers' Societies registered under the cooperative fold in the State. It is providing direct employment to over 100,000 weavers and indirect employment to about 400,000 people in the state.
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