handloom: Government to take action against those selling machine-made products as handmade, says Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal

Textiles minister Piyush Goyal Wednesday said that the government would take firm action against businesses selling machine-made products under the ‘Handmade in India’ label, to protect the handicraft and handloom sectors.

At a meeting with stakeholders of the textiles sector, he said the government is willing to procure the harvest of jute and cotton farmers if the market price is lower than the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) and it is working towards increasing the production of jute and cotton and provide quality seeds, fertiliser for quality produce to fulfill the vision of farms to foreign exports.

“The minister noted that businesses selling machine-made products under the ‘Handmade in India’ label should be penalised and said that the government would take firm action to protect the handicraft and handloom sectors,” the textiles ministry said in a statement.

Urging the artisans to register their businesses on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), Goyal said that he has instructed GeM to register all artisans and weavers connected with handicraft and handloom without any registration fee.

Registering on the e-marketplace will boost the visibility of artisans and help promote businesses enhancing their income, he said, adding that the government would try to facilitate the GeM-registered businesses to be onboarded on major e-commerce websites in the country and push for registering their businesses on foreign websites prioritising handicraft and handloom.