India's Tamil Nadu govt starts expos to promote handlooms

31 Dec '13

2 min read

Several handloom exhibitions have been initiated in 40 different towns of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, in order to promote handloom products of the state, said state handloom and textiles minister Sundarajan, at the inauguration of a 15-day handloom expo in the district of Erode.

In addition to these events, Mr. Sundarajan said, 15 special expos and a national level handloom exhibition have also been initiated in the state to promote the handloom sector, reports Business Standard quoting PTI.

The state handloom minister said that several such exhibitions were held during the last two and a half years, through which handloom goods worth Rs 205 million were sold.

According to the Department of Handlooms and Textiles of Tamil Nadu, there are 283,000 handlooms in the state who are members of about 1,354 handloom Weavers Cooperative Societies of Tamil Nadu and most of these societies are affiliated to the apex level (Tamil Nadu) Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Ltd., popularly known as CO-OPTEX.

The state has 320,000 powerlooms and 142 Powerloom Weavers Cooperative Societies covering 24,000 looms.

In October 2013, the state and Central Governments together announced establishment of 4 new handloom clusters in Tamil Nadu, with an investment of Rs. 5.4 million, of which the Central Government granted Rs. 4.57 million and the rest Rs. 836,000 were sanctioned by the state government.

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