Indian Handloom is an ancient and traditional art, flourishing in our country since thousands of years. Thanks to the efforts of Indian Government, Indian handloom shall now have a global platform where it can be appreciated and admired by one and all.
In one of the major #DigitalIndia decisions, Indian Govt. has launched official website of ‘India Handloom Brand’, wherein both consumers and producers can directly buy and sell products.
The website: www.indiahandloombrand.gov.in has been launched by The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India as a ‘on stop destination’ to promote and encourage sale of Indian handloom, which are being manufactured by Indians.
Earlier, PM Modi had officially inaugurated India Handloom Brand last year in August. Such branding exercise had been created to identify and acknowledge the uniqueness of Indian raw materials, processing style, embellishment style, weaving, design and “other parameters besides social and environmental compliance.”
What Will This Website Have?
As per official reports, this new website shall have:
- Full details of all registered Indian handloom producers, so that only genuine handloom products from India are being available
- Every product shall have a unique registration number to authenticate the genuineness of the seller
- Details about all e-stores and retail outlets where Indian handloom are being sold, officially
- Description of every product, and tips to identify genuine handloom products
- Registration space for new handloom manufacturers to connect with this website
- A dedicated marketplace type location where bulk buyers/wholesalers, garment traders and consumers can connect
Online Clothes Market: $35 Billion By 2020
As per Google Director for E-commerce and Online Nitin Bawankule, online market for clothes and textile will touch $35 billion by 2020. This is a direct increase of 4 times, in 4 years; and this speaks volume about the potential of this market.
In fact, Google searches related to fashion and clothes is witnessing an increase of 66% month on month, and Government want Indian handloom to take a pie in this huge boom.
However, the growth and expansion of this market hasn’t been able to reflect on the traditional handloom industry in India. As per Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), exports of Indian handloom products increased by just 6.9% in 2014-15 to reach $368 million; which is extremely low compared to other types of clothes/textiles which are being exported from India.
One tenth of all Indian fabrics manufactured domestically are handloom centric, and around 50 lakh workers are currently engaged with this trade.
The launch of this website is certainly a major move by Indian Government to take the legacy of Indian handloom industry to a global level.
