Bhubaneswar, Jan. 7: Nandita Das’s vibrant yellow sari may have created quite a splash in Cannes in 2005, but of late, the popularity of Orissa’s textiles has been waning — in the domestic market.
However, for the first time in 12 years things are looking up — Orissa State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society (known as Boyanika), an organisation to market hand-woven textiles, has achieved a 30 per cent growth in sales. And there has been a noticeable interest in products among domestic customers. All this happened due to small steps taken by Boyanika — ably aided by the Centre and state governments — in the past few years to improve and increase interest in the product and its sale.
During 2006-07, two state-level and 19 district-level exhibitions were held in Orissa in which total sale touched over Rs 10.34 crore, said handloom and textile secretary Anita Agnihotri. Aggressive and direct marketing has made sure that the products have made foray into Calcutta, Delhi and Pune, besides to three international events in Hong Kong, Mumbai and Delhi. The yarn bank scheme introduced by Boyanika offering weavers quality yarn at the right price has been a great success, too.
The state organisation has also gone for a makeover by sizing down its staff strength, adopting a new procurement policy, renovating and restructuring its showrooms under state and Central government funding.
Today the “National Handloom Expo” that was thrown open for the public by Boyanika was teeming with people. Co-sponsored by the development commissioner for handlooms and the ministry of textiles, the expo aims to facilitate sustainable livelihood for weavers by providing a platform for marketing.
Orissa’s primary weavers co-operative societies, 81 weaver co-operatives from 15 states and five major handloom clusters from parts of the country are participating in the event that would continue till January 26. This is the show’s second consecutive year. “Last year’s expo was a success. Sales touched the Rs 3 crore mark in the fair, which was remarkable,” said Agnihotri.
