The Indian government plans to amend the Handloom Act of 1985. The Act lists goods and textiles reserved for production by traditional craftsmen and weavers. India’s hand-crafted textiles are not only in high demand worldwide, but their diversity represents genuine non-mechanised silk, cotton and wool. Handloom exports have risen steadily, even during recession years. At home, demand is huge even without strong market mechanisms.

According to the 1985 Handloom Reservation Act, handloom means any loom other than powerloom, and a powerloom is a loom worked by power as defined in the Factories Act, 1948. But the handloom sector is scattered and finds it difficult to function as a lobby. Issues of definition demand attention, including embroidery and printing.

Redefinition of handloom would at one stroke convert handlooms into powerlooms, robbing them of their fundamental USP. Handloom propenents say there is pressure to remove saris from the list, since saris are the mainstay of the handloom sector. The powerloom lobby that accounts for 60 per cent of fabric production (handlooms come next with 15 per cent) wants to blur the differences between powerloom and handloom so as to claim benefits limited to handlooms.