Handloom: Indian Heritage in need of Innovation and Revival for Economic transformation

Abstract

Indian Textiles is several centuries old and is an economically significant sector of the country. Handloom is seen as one of the most vibrant Indian cultural heritage that has an important place in the textile industry. As per 3rd Handloom census, the sector enfolds around 43 lakhs people engaged in weaving and allied activities that majorly constituent rural and semi rural livelihood. It's a cottage industry of India comprising mostly women of about 77%. Despite of being an important sector that supports one of the largest chunks of unorganized sectors of the country it's withering at the hands of modernity. In the era of Power-loom and Technical Textiles the Indian Handloom sector needs revitalization to survive. It is high time to safe guard Handloom sector with innovation and revival to defend the livelihood of unorganized workers, preserve the rich Indian heritage and make the sector a significant contributor of Economic transformation of India. This paper is a comparative study of Innovative intensity of Handloom small business and small scale Technical /powerloom textiles. Structured and unstructured interviews have been conducted with 19 handloom business and powerloom/technical textile business; both at small scale level. Findings show greater Innovative Intensity in Technical/powerloom small business than small handloom business. Also challenges of Handloom textile industry is studied through Fishbone diagram with suggestive measures.