Bhubaneswar, Jan. 22: An incubation centre to encourage budding handloom designers and weavers will be constructed shortly near the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) building here.

Moreover, Odia handloom weavers will now be able to sell their collections on online shopping store Flipkart, the minister of state for textile, Santosh Gangwar, said at the Design Sutra national handloom workshop held on the NIFT campus today.

Young handloom weavers and designers, who want to gain experience in textile-based entrepreneurship, will be able to learn the tricks of the trade at the incubation centre that will be set up on a three acres area near the NIFT campus in the city.

'It will be a plug and play set up wherein the qualified weavers or handloom designers will be able to create their designer collections and also directly contact sellers before they are ready to start their own business. From apparel designing to stitching and selling, the members will be trained in various skills with technical help from NIFT,' said S.K. Panda, secretary of ministry of textiles.

He also said that Rs 12 crore had been earmarked for the centre.

There are 63 textile parks in the country, but none of them are in Odisha. said Gangwar.

'We are still considering applications for textile parks till February 5. For a Rs 100crore set-up, the ministry will provide a subsidy of up to Rs 40 crore. I would appeal to the state government to take the help of corporate houses here and identify land so that a textile park can be set up here,' Panda said.

The state handloom department authorities, however, said they were already trying to spot a land for the park, but that would take time.

Many members of the handloom weaving fraternity from all over Odisha attended the event today.

'The authorities have now joined hands with Flipkart, which will sell our products online. We just need to get a little idea about the same but we know that buyers prefer online shopping now,' said Nabakrushna Das, a weaver from Nuapatna.

From couture designs to handloom textiles and furnishing collections, students from across 15 NIFT colleges in India took part in the workshop today. A fashion show based on these designs was also organised on the campus this evening.

The Union ministry of textiles also granted Rs 10 crore for the Raghurajpur crafts village to expedite production before Nabakalebar. State handloom department authorities said the area would be made into a modern craft village with proper roads, electricity, drainage and craft production amenities, which would be readied before the event.