Increasing competitiveness of Assam’s handloom products

The demand for traditional Gamosa has surged in Assam with political parties intensifying their activities and the Election Commission of India fine-tuning preparations for conducting assembly polls, which could be held during the run-up to Rongali Bihu festivities. Increased demand has brought an opportunity for traditional handloom weavers to augment their household income. If flooding of Gamosas made on power looms is not checked, the traditional weavers may be deprived of their due share of increased demand in the Bihu market. The onus lies on political parties, both ruling and opposition, to ensure that only genuine Gamosas woven by traditional weavers are used to welcome their leaders on the dais and at meetings and all other venues. Intensifying the drive against the power loom replica of Gamosa, Aronai, and other traditional handicraft items is crucial to prevent unscrupulous traders from exploiting the surge in demand and flooding the market with cheap and machine-made products. The Union Budget for 2026-27 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has placed textiles at the center of India’s growth by prioritizing this labor-intensive industry as a key driver of job creation, export growth, rural livelihoods, and sustainable manufacturing. Her announcement to strengthen existing schemes for handloom and handicrafts by integrating and strengthening those under a unified national program—National Handloom Development Programme—has triggered fresh hopes for revival of traditional looms from subsistence earning to sustainable earning. The objective of this program is to provide targeted and effective support to weavers and artisans, improve incomes, ensure market linkages, and preserve India’s rich textile heritage. Additionally, the government is providing financial assistance for the promotion of natural and vegetable dyes and for the establishment of dye houses through two components, viz., the Mega Cluster Development Programme and need-based special infrastructural projects, under the Union Budget announcements. While these schemes and programmes create new opportunities for the expansion of the traditional handloom sector, protecting the traditional weavers from the onslaught of the power loom lobby is critical to ensure that they get an assured market for the sustainability of their microenterprise of handwoven products. Availability of yarn at an affordable cost at their nearest market is essential for the commercial viability of their enterprise. Rising prices of yarn have pushed up the prices of final handloom products and caused them to lose their competitiveness with cheaper power loom products. Enforcement of legal provisions to curb power loom replicas of handloom products, therefore, remains important. A key announcement in the Union Budget is the Textile Expansion and Employment Scheme for the modernization of traditional textile clusters through the provision of capital support for machinery, technology upgradation, and the establishment of common testing and certification centres. The Handloom and Textile Department, leveraging this scheme to strengthen the process of providing a Geographical Indication (GI) logo to artisans, can go a long way in empowering the traditional weavers to use the authenticity tag to widen their market reach. Ascertaining the genuineness of the GI logo used on Gamosa sold in the market is vital to curb the use of false GI tags for selling power loom replicas. The Gamocha of Assam had received the GI Tag in 2022 under the provisions of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, and is registered in favor of the Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles of Assam. One of the observations made by the Departmentally Related Standing Committee of the Assam Assembly on Handloom, Textile, and Sericulture is that the departmental Weavers Extension Service Unit and Handloom Production Centres are unable to produce sufficient numbers of handloom fabrics due to lack of working capital as well as improved looms, etc. The committee recommended strengthening by providing working capital and improved looms so as to produce sufficient handloom products to face the competition from powerloom-made gamosa and other handwoven items. Building awareness among weavers about various schemes and programmes which are beneficial to them is essential to boost their confidence in utilizing their traditional expertise for the production of Gamosa and other handwoven products on a commercial scale so that weaving on looms does not remain a festival-centric activity or just for meeting their household needs but a full-time employment avenue for women and other members. When production is increased, it also unlocks opportunities for village youth to aggregate their handloom products to supply to urban markets that have high demand and fetch remunerative prices. With the election campaign period coinciding with the heightened engagement of weavers on their looms to cater to the rising demand, it also brings the opportunity for the associations, Self Help Groups of traditional weavers, to mount pressure on political parties to give their issues high priorities in their election manifestos and come up with promises that are implementable, forward-looking, and protect their interests. Increasing the competitiveness of handloom products is the only way to make Assam’s handloom industry vibrant and self-reliant.