Question : GST on Handloom Products

(a) whether the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has increased the sale price of Handloom products in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has made any study to find out its impact on marketing turnover of handloom products and also on the earnings of the weavers engaged in this profession;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) the number of persons engaged in the Handloom Sector of the country particularly in Odisha; and

(f) the details of the corrective steps taken by the Government to save the Handloom sector of the country and the persons engaged therein?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES
(SMT. DARSHANA JARDOSH)

(a) to (f): Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been introduced by the Government of India to rationalize multiple taxes on goods & services and to bring transparency in the taxation system. Also, GST is implemented through an Act of Parliament with States as equal partners in GST Council with Government of India. However, no exercise has been undertaken to study the impact of GST on Handloom.

Ministry of Textiles is implementing the following schemes to promote the handlooms and welfare of weavers across the country-:

1. National Handloom Development Programme;
2. Raw Material Supply Scheme;





Under the above schemes, financial assistance is provided to the eligible handloom agencies/weavers for raw materials, common infrastructure development, marketing of handloom products in domestic/overseas markets, loans at concessional rates, etc.

To overcome the issues faced by handloom workers, the Government has taken following steps:
i. The States and UTs have been requested for their State Handloom Corporations/Co-operatives/Agencies to make purchases of the finished inventory available with the handloom weavers.

ii. Steps have been taken to on-board weavers on Government e-Market place to enable them to sell their products directly to various Government Departments and organizations. So far about 1.5 lakh weavers have been on-boarded on the GeM portal.

iii. To enhance productivity, marketing capabilities and facilitate better incomes, 135 Handloom Producer companies have been formed in different States of the country.

iv. Under Weaver MUDRA/Concessional Credit Scheme, margin money assistance at 20% of the loan amount subject to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/- for individual weaver/Weaver Entrepreneur and Rs. 20 lakh for Handloom Organizations, interest subvention upto 7% and credit guarantee fees on loans for a period of three years are provided.

v. Design Resource Centres have been set up in Weavers’ Service Centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Kancheepuram to build and create design-oriented excellence in the Handloom Sector and to facilitate weavers, exporters, manufacturers and designers access design repositories for sample/product improvisation and development.

vi. For export promotion of handloom products, Handloom Export Promotion Council has been organizing International Fairs. During the year 2021-22, various international marketing fairs/events have been organized. Besides, domestic marketing events were also organized in different parts of the country for the weavers to market and sell their products.

vii. Weavers are facilitated to sell their products online and 23 e-commerce platforms have been associated by Ministry of Textiles under a policy framework.

As per 4th All India Handloom Census, there are 35,22,512 Handloom workers including 1,17,836 from the State of Odisha.
***