India Handloom Brand

India Handloom Brand is a scheme that has been launched by the Prime Minister as a part of the first-ever India Handloom Brand in Chennai. The scheme endorses the quality of the products such as raw material, processing, embellishments, weaving design and other requirements to earn customer's trust. Moreover, the scheme is aimed to generate a special market space and increase the income of the weavers.

Objectives

The objectives of the scheme are

• To ensure quality in design and weave of the product to make it defect-free and thereby safeguard the interest of the buyers.
• To ensure compliance with relevant social and environmental laws to conserve and promote culture and tradition relating to handlooms.
• To promote the production of high-end products, thereby increasing the earning of the weavers.
• To facilitate the marketing of handloom products through e-commerce.

Categories of Users

Given below is the list of category of users to participate in India Handloom Brand initiative.

• Weavers
• Master weavers
• Primary 1
• Apex handloom societies
• Retailers
• Exporters
• Others

Other includes

Self Help Groups (SHGs), consortia, producers companies, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Handloom Weavers Groups (HWG) etc. that are identified under Integrated Handloom Development Scheme (IHDS) or any other legal entity/organisation that is involved in handloom related activities, approved to avail benefits under other schemes of Development Commissioner for Handlooms. Any other organisations willing to participate in the scheme has to be approved by the Development Commissioner for Handlooms.

Eligible Products for Branding

Saree

• Cotton: Jamddani, Pochampalli, Tangail, Shantipiri, Dhaniakhali, Bichitrapuri, Bomkai, Kotpad, Venkatgiri, Uppada, Siddipet, Narayanpet, Mangalagiri, Chetinad, Balaramapuram, Kasergod, Kuthampally, Chendmangalam (Dhoti)
• Silk: Baluchari, Sulkuch silk, Khandua, Dharmavaram, Berhampuri,Bomkai Silk, Benares Brocade, Tanchoi, Benarasi, Mugasilk, Butidar, Jangla, BenarasiCutwork, Pochampally, Kanchipuram, ArniSilk, Molkalmuru, Paithani, Patola, Champasilk, Ashawali Silk, Salem Silk(Dhoti), Uppada, Jamdani.
• Cotton Silk Saree: Chanderi, Maheswari, Kota Doria, IIKal, Gadwal, Covai Kora Cotton

Dress Materials

• Cotton: Odhisha Okat, Pochampalli Ikat
• Silk: Tanchoi, Cutwork, Odisha Ikat, Muga Fabric, Benarasi, Pochampally Ikat, Tassar Fabric, Mekhala/Chadar

Bed Sheets

• Pochampally Ikat, Odisha Ikat

Scarf/Shawl/Chadar

Kani Shawl, Kulu Shawl, Kinnori Shawl, Tangaliya Shawl, Kutch Shawl, Wangkhei Phee

Benefits of the Scheme

The logo imprinted on the product gives assurance of its quality to its customers. Premium branding enables the sourcing of quality fabrics and enhances sales and earnings through bulk marketing of quality products within and outside the country. Registered users of the India Handloom Brand would be assisted in design development, institutional finance and technical assistance as per the National Handloom Development Programme.

Application Fee

There is no requirement for an applicant to pay for the application since all the forms are available with the offices of the Textiles Committee and Weavers' Service Centre.

Registration Fee

The registration fee for all applicants is Rs. 500. An application can be used for more than one item. The applicants have to pay an application registration fee while submitting the application form. Registration gets completed only after conducting on-site verification. Once registered, the application is valid for three years from the date of registration. The registered applicant is allowed to use the brand even after three years, depending on the track record of quality standards of the products. However, every registered product has to be renewed after three years from its date of registration.

Submission of the Application Form

An application form can be submitted through both online and offline procedures.

Offline Procedure

All duly completed application forms have to be submitted in duplicate along with the sample products. The duplicate copy has to be returned to the applicant after allotting the application number with the signature of the concerned officer.

Online Procedure

Applicants who wish to apply online has to login to the

official website. The applicant can download the application form from this website. However, a copy of the application form along with the printout of the submission receipt and the product samples must be submitted to the concerned office. On submission of the application, the concerned Regional Office (RO) of the Textiles Committee of the Weavers' Service Centre carries out the scrutiny of application wherever the application is filed. The application has to be enclosed with the product samples for which India Handloom Brand requires physical and quality parameters of the products, including

• Construction of the product, picks/inch, ends/inch etc.
• Count of warp and weft yarns
• Dimensions of the products
• Fibre content, such as cotton, silk, wool, pashmina, etc.
• Colour fastness to sunlight, washing and rubbing
• Usage of natural and azo-free synthetic dyes
• Type of zari and other embellishments
• Other specifications of the product
• Compliance with the law relating to child labour, conversion of environment and checking of pollution

For high-value products, detailed physical and quality parameters along with a sample of the leftover raw materials like yarn, dyes, zari etc. have to be enclosed for testing.

Payment Procedure

• Applicants can remit the application fee through cheque, Demand Draft or online transfer.
• Cheques and Demand Drafts would be drawn in favour of the Textile Committee that is payable to the Regional Office (RO) of Textile Committee (TC).
• Applications that are submitted to the offices of the Weavers' Service Centre (WSC) has to withdraw the cheque/DD as instructed by Textiles Committee.
• Online payment can also be made through the Online Payment option that is available on the Textile Committee. Those applicants submitting the online application must pay the registration fee online, for which they would be provided with an auto-generated receipt.

Processing of the Application

The offices of the Weavers Service Centre and Textiles Committee forwards a copy of the application with the enclosures to the nearest Textile Committee laboratory for conformation. The laboratories conduct conformity assessment within the next five working days and submit the report to the concerned Weavers Service Centre or Textiles Committee.

Verification Process

On-site verification is mandatory for every applicant. This is carried out by the concerned RO of Textile Committee or WSC to ensure the authenticity of the products and applicants, in addition to social and environmental compliances. The process would be completed within 15 days from the date of receipt of the application.

Registration Procedure

Here is the step-by-step procedure to register for the scheme.

Step 1: The office of the Textiles Committee or Weavers Service Centre surveys the application by comparing it to the test report and forwards a recommendation letter to the office of the Textile Committee located in Mumbai to issue the registration number. Step 2: Once the recommendation letter is reviewed, the office of the Textile Committee issues a registration number to the application after communicating to the office of DC (HL). Step 3: The registration certificate would be issued to the applicant by the office of the Textile Committee. Step 4: A soft copy of the logo in a CD is made available to the registered India Handloom Brand.

Features of India Handloom Brand Portal

For easy access to the scheme, the Government has launched a portal under the scheme. The portal renders the following services.

• Provides details of all the registered India Handloom producers that facilitates verification of genuine India Handloom product by customers.
• Provides information regarding the retail stores and e-commerce platform where India Handloom Brand products can be purchased.
• Provides a brief description of every product category by identifying the accuracy of the products.
• Provides contact details of India Handloom Brand producers that are made available for bulk buyers such as retail stores, garment manufactures who directly access the handloom producers that are registered under the brand.
• Handloom producers can apply for registration online under the brand and can track the status of their application.
• Customers verify the accuracy of the brand logo using the registration number that is imprinted on the label of every product.

Appeal Procedure

• If the registration is cancelled, then the applicant can appeal to the Development Commissioner for handlooms to revoke the cancellation of license within 30 days after receiving the receipt of the cancellation certificate.
• On receipt of the appeal, the Development Commissioner for Handlooms constitutes a sub-committee that consists of one officer from every office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Textiles Committee and Weavers Service Centre to review the grievance.
• The sub-committee looks into the appeal and submits its recommendation within 15 days to the Development Commissioner for handlooms.
• The Development Commissioner for Handlooms issues appropriate order on the receipt of the recommendations from the sub-committee.