The Silence of the looms

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Capstone Project Report

The Silence Of The LoomsA study on the Varanasi Silk Industry and weavers sub-human living conditions

As Submitted to:People Vigilance Committee on Human Rights(PVCHR),Varanasi

Under the benign guidance of:Dr Lenin RaghuvanshiFounder/Convener, PVCHR

Umang AgrawalIInd Yr, MBA CoreNMIMS3/15/2008


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A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s

I must express my deepest gratitude for Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi,founder/convener of PVCHR and my project guide, for givingme an opportunity to work on a subject close to my heart.Despite his busy schedule, he managed to take out timeproviding me the guidance and direction without which thisproject would not have been possible.

I also thank Mr Hemang Agrawal, my elder brother and afashion designer with expert knowledge of the Varanasi SilkIndustry, for his inputs.

I am equally indebted to Mr Abhishek Agrawal, MBA - Instituteof Rural Management, Anand, for his invaluable support andinputs.

Umang Agrawal

March 15, 2008

Mumbai

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C o n t e n t s

Acknowledgements...................................................................................2

Contents......................................................................................................3

List Of Tables..............................................................................................6

Introduction................................................................................................7

Benares Silk Industry: An Overview......................................................8

1.1. Introduction ....................................................................... 8

1.2. Product Mix ...................................................................... 8

1.3. Market For Saree ............................................................... 9

1.4. Market for Non-Saree Products .................................... 10

1.5. Dry-Cleaning: A Major Constraint .............................. 10

1.6. Export ............................................................................... 10

1.7. Sector-Structure .............................................................. 11

Weaver Typologies...............................................................11

Sattiwala, Grihastha, Gaddedar.........................................12

Handloom and Power loom Relationship........................12

Representational Agency.....................................................14

The Weaver..............................................................................................15

1.8. Weaver force And Its Growth ....................................... 15

1.9. City Village Concentration ........................................... 15

1.10. Gender ............................................................................ 16

1.11. Active Weaver force ..................................................... 16

1.12. Career Span ................................................................... 16

1.13. Skill Differences ............................................................ 16

1.14. Work Models ................................................................. 16

1.15. Wage Fixation and Relationship ................................ 17

1.16. Channels for Producer Weaver .................................. 18

1.17. Weaver: Preference and Aversion .............................. 18

1.18. Weaver Earnings ........................................................... 18

1.19. Continuance in Weaving Occupation ........................ 20

1.20. Work Culture ................................................................. 20

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1.21. Weaver View ................................................................. 21

Support Environment............................................................................22

1.22. Support Structure ......................................................... 22

The Handloom Specific Government Agencies...............22Co-operative Societies..........................................................22

District Administration........................................................23

1.23. Overall Picture .............................................................. 24

Credit......................................................................................24

Infrastructure.........................................................................24

Analysis of Business Operation in the Cluster .................................26

1.24. Production Process ....................................................... 26

1.25. Design ............................................................................. 27

Mohalla-level Designer: The backbone ...........................27

Weaver Service Centre: Design Wing................................27

National Designers and Banaras........................................28

Real Life Success Stories: Design........................................28

Design Work: Significant Developments .........................28

The Gap..................................................................................29

1.26. Dyeing ............................................................................ 29

Typical Enterprise Scale.......................................................29

Economics of dying..............................................................30

Timetable...............................................................................30

Working Condition..............................................................31

Vegetable Dyeing .................................................................31

Quality and Technology......................................................31

1.27. Card Making .................................................................. 31

1.28. Weaving ........................................................................ 32

1.29. Raw Material ................................................................. 32

1.30. Raw Material Price: Broad Indicators ........................ 33

1.31. Weaver Co-operatives: Some Profiles ...................... 34

Angika....................................................................................34

Tibetan Brocade....................................................................35

Jagannath : An Exclusive Saree Weaver Group...............35

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Survey Analysis.......................................................................................37

Common Weaver Comments.................................................................46

Diagnosis Of The Cluster And Common Problem.............................48

1.33. Problem Analysis ......................................................... 48City Economy and Demography........................................48

Absence of Ownership.........................................................48

Market Dynamics..................................................................49

Policy Environment .............................................................49

Practical Consequence ........................................................49

Swot Analysis..........................................................................................50

1.34. Strength .......................................................................... 51

1.35. Weakness ....................................................................... 51

1.36. Opportunity ................................................................... 51

1.37. Threat .............................................................................. 52

Strategy And Action Plan.......................................................................53

1.38. Strategy .......................................................................... 53

PMTI.......................................................................................55

Handloom Alone Alliance...................................................59

1.39. Action Plan .................................................................... 64

Year 1......................................................................................64

Year 2......................................................................................66

Year 3......................................................................................67

PVCHR and Varanasi Weavers Trust.............................................68

Annexures.................................................................................................72

1.40. Name and Addresses of Weavers with whom survey was conducted ........................................................................ 72

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L i s t O f Ta b l e s

Table 1 - Looms Ownership...................................................................37

Table 2 - Family Weavers.......................................................................38

Table 3 - Hired Weaving Workers.........................................................38

Table 4 - Mode of Working....................................................................39

Table 5 - Yarn Consumption..................................................................39

Table 6 - Product Made During Last 3 Years.......................................40

Table 7 - Product made During last 3 Years (Dress Material)...........40

Table 8 - Voluntary Closure During The Year.....................................41

Table 9 - Food Closure During The Year..............................................41

Table 10Earnings During Last One Year Own-yarn Work................42

Table 11 - Earnings During Last One Year Job-work.........................42

Table 12 - Benefits Received (Y/N) (No of Weaver)..........................43

Table 13 - Awareness: Weaver Service Center (No of Weaver)........43

Table 14 - Benefit From WSC.................................................................43

Table 15 - Future of Handloom Weaving Occupation (No. ofweavers)....................................................................................................44

Table 16 - Plan To Move To Other Occupation...................................44

Table 17 - Responsibility for the Decline (No. of weavers)...............44

Table 18 - Family......................................................................................45

Table 19 - Assets.......................................................................................45

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I n t r o d u c t i o n

There seems to be a distinct virtue in illiteracy. Its only goodthat millions of malnourished and impoverished craftsmen ofour nation are not exposed to the rhetoric of India Shining,Resurgent India, et al, phrases projecting the rubicundcondition of the Indian economy. For people who do not knowwhere their next meal will come from (if at all it does), the macroeconomic indicators have little value. India has sure made some

remarkable progress over the past decade. No doubt it has. But,unfortunately this growth continues to elude a significantsection of population, whose plight only shouts in the face of theGDP numbers.

There are numerous people who have been denied their share inthe development process. One such group is the Weavers ofVaranasi. Their poverty prevents them from satisfying their bare

necessities. Their obscurity prevents them from making theirsufferings known. Their illiteracy prevents them from fightingagainst the injustice. In the foregoing pages I shall try tohighlight some of the evils that inflict the industry and somemeasures to resuscitate a dying art.

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B e n a r e s S i l k I n d u s t r y : A n

O v e r v i e w

1.1.Introduction

Banaras silk sarees are an integral part of the Indian sartoriallandscape. The historian have traced the handloom weavingtradition there to 1500 to 2000 BC and located reference in Vedicand Buddha literature. It seems it specialized in cotton weavingbut made a switch to silk weaving in the 14 th century. Around

this time, motifs also changed; bringing in a Persian mark. Forlast few centuries, it specializes in brocade weaving.

The sector, in the past, used to experience periodic downswings.However, it is going through a low patch for nearly a decadenow.

There are about one lac handloom weavers at Varanasi,presently 40,000 are active. In addition, there are hundreds oftraders, dyers, designers, card-makers and ancillary support

providers. The annual turnover (at Varanasi price) is estimatedat around Rs.400 crores. While being concentrated in VaranasiCity, the activity has spread to surrounding villages.

70% of weaver force is in the city. 90% of city weaver force isMuslim, while 30% of weaver force in villages is Muslim.

1.2.Product Mix

The main product of Banaras Handloom Cluster is saree and itsdominance continues. The estimated share of saree in the totalvalue of output varies from 90% to 95%.

The other products are

Dress material

Furnishing fabric

Fashion accessories, eg, stole, scarves

Saree Streams: Yarn and Look

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The saree segment typically consists of two subsequent.

Satin-based work (largely Karnataka yarn)

Organza type work (largely Chinese yarn)

The former is concentrated in North Varansi-Badi Bazar,Alaypura, Pilikothi. The later is visible in Sourth Varnasi e.g.Madanpura

Most of the output (90%) gets sold at Banaras. The incidence ofcontractor weavers, and co-op societies selling directly totraders/others outside Banaras is very limited.

1.3.Market For Saree

A Banarasi silk saree is not so strongly on the priority list of anIndian bride from a prosperous family as it was earlier. Theheavy work (embroidery) sarees are out-competing Banarasisarees in the high-end segment. There are two areas in whichheavy work sarees apparently are exerting pressure on Banarassaree. First, exclusivity. It is possible to make each heavy workor embroidered saree exclusive because it is easy to makevariations. This is not so in case of handweaving and currently,

there is emphasis on exclusiveness. A basic heavy saree maycost Rs. 2000 and work on it gets priced at, say, Rs. 8000; leadingto a price of Rs. 10,000/-. Unlike weave, work pricing issomewhat discretionary and offers scope to the retail outlets forlarger margins. The heavy work trend according to marketobservers, is undermining the significance of exquisite weave inthe traditional aesthetic consciousness. This shift from weave tonon-weave ornamentation, they apprehend, may not betemporary and poses a serious, long-term threat to the prospects

of higher-end Banarasi saree.

In the lower-end segment, Banarasi saree does not possess long-established or traditional brand equity. It has grownquantitatively in this segment as a result of expansion of weaverforce and market conditions. As we shall later see, it is fightingpower loom sarees there. It manages to secure some volumesbut mainly at the cost of helpless weaver. South India in recentyears, has emerged an at attractive destination for Banarasi

sarees in lower-end segment.

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At another level, the brand equity of high-profile retail outlets(e.g., Kala Niketan) now, in certain context, matches or exceedsthat of Banarasi high-end sarees. This has affected the value-chain; such retail outlets securing a larger share of the price-

cake; squeezing the share of Banaras-based players.In both price segments, saree has been facing problems andthese problems do not appear temporary; notwithstandingoccassional spurts in demand.

1.4.Market for Non-Saree Products

These dress material, furnishing fabric, accessories-are selling onthe strength of their own aesthetic/economic strength; withoutdrawing strength from Banaras brand equity. The customers,unlike in case of sarees, do not actively seek Banaras weave inrespect of these products. In fact, for dress material andfurnishing fabric, the sector has not attempted productdevelopment; it merely sells fabric.

Tie and dye, Chikan and such other styles sell as ready-to-stitchsalwar-kamiz kits; highlighting neck design, sleeve design, andso on. Banaras dress material is not sold this way. It sells as

running fabric. Kutch sells cushion covers; Banaras sells onlyfurnishing fabric. The non-saree product line, rather small inrelation to total Banaras output, thus, is not showing any singsof noticeable growth.

1.5.Dry-Cleaning: A Major Constraint

The sarees and non-saree products, entailing silk and often zari,demand dry-cleaning. Given the growth of washing machines,

which handles even woolen garments, customers find dry-cleaning rather expensive and irksome. The limitation hurtsmarket prospects, particularly in the lower price segment.

1.6.Export

The estimated of share of export in handloom output at Banarasvaries from 2% to 3%. It is meagre. Besides sarees for ethnicpopulation abroad, the products are

Furnishing fabric

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Accessories, e.g., scarves, stoles

Buddhist brocade

The exports, in most cases, entail large volume (for a given

trader); the industry does not have networking systems. Theorders are time-bound. The exporter, many times, converts itinto a power loom order. The products in the overseas marketare largely positioned in purpose terms saree, table runner,curtain, stole and its handloom identity remains eitherundeclared or lowkey.

There are few countries, eg, Australia and New Zealand whichoffer incentives for handmade products and so importers ask foran appropriate certification from the Export Council; hopefullybringing the fact of handmade product into focus. However,most of the world does not require such evidence at all.

The export products move largely on the strength of intrinsicaesthetics and workmanship; bereft of Banaras brand-equity.

The foreign buyers remain fairly removed from Banaras in termsof reaching down directly to local traders and societies, leavealone weavers or asking explicitly for Banaras weave anddesign.

Under the quota system, handloom was not within the purviewof quota. Now that quotas are phased out, the advantage iswiped out.

The industry has not been able to explore the neighbouringcountry saree/lahenga market, e.g., Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,Pakistan.

1.7.Sector-StructureThe sector consists of a set of producers and intermediaries (seechart). Let us turn to major elements.

Weaver Typologies

There are distinctive patterns, though the lines among varioustypologies are not sharp and change.

A weaver is either a job worker-receiving dyed yarn and design,handing over a woven product and receiving wages or a

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businessman in his own right. In the latter case, he invests inbuying yarn; he may produce according to the design bought byhim or the one supplied by buyer. The weavers who operate oneor two looms barring few are largely job workers. They form

95% of the now active weaver population at Varanasi.The weavers who are businessmen are often called masterweavers at Banaras. A master weaver generally means anexperienced and gifted weaver but here these traits areincidental or non-existent and so we shall call him contractorweaver. A contractor weaver may operate a few looms under hisown tutelage and enter into a wage-payment relationship withsome other weavers. There are likely to be kinship or

neighbourhood ties with wage-payment receiving weaver.

Sattiwala, Grihastha, Gaddedar

On the market side, there are sattiwalas, grihasthas andgaddedars, the last two terms often being utilizedinterchangeably. A Sattiwala, however, is a broker. Heintermediates between the seller and the buying trader and gets3% commission from the seller. It is an open, transparentmechanism. A sattiwala generally does not engage in weavingor outsourcing of weaving work; though he may be engaged inother allied business, eg, yarn-sale.

Grihasthas buy from weaver-contractor or weaver or sattiwalaand sell to gaddedars/non-local traders; they assume buy-sellrisk and hence the margins are not fixed. Some of them also dowhat contractor weavers do.

The gaddedars are large traders at the end of Banaras-levelchain. Many of them have retail outlets at Banaras and/or sellBanaras output to outstation traders. Some of them also do whatcontractor-weavers do. Some are also engaged in yarn trading. Itis the contractor weaver, grihastha, gaddedar combine (CG 2)which controls the sector.

Handloom and Power loom Relationship

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At Banaras, the two sectors are extremely inter-twined. Whilethere are estimatedly 40,000 working handlooms, there are10,000 active power looms.

Grihasthas diversified into power loom to avoid handloompitfalls of high labour cost and slow production rate. Whenpowelroom faced competition from China, they shifted tocomputer embroidery on Surat saree. Next, computerembroidery on Chinese fabric. Besides, such other possibilitiesas non-saree products and exports. So, CG 2 are dynamic. Theyare not dedicated to any technology hand or power. They arenot dedicated to any stage in the chain weaving or post-weaving. They are not dedicated to nature of operation trading

or production. They are, however, substantially tied down toproducts saree and dress material. No wonder, fresh entries ofnew CG 2 are quite common.

It is power looms at Surat which produced handloom look-alikesarees and made the first market-assault on Banaras handloomsarees. The industry at Banaras, rather than fight back, joinedthe power loom bandwagon.

Most players in the chain, (including leaders of handloom coop

societies) excluding a poor weaver who possesses one or twolooms, are simultaneously the owners of power loom. Except fora wage-receiving weaver, the emphasis is on product saree,dress material, etc. rather than power-dependence orotherwise of technology. For them, it is an integrated operationrequiring nimble-footed and clever shifts in emphasis from oneto another from time to time.

It is not practical to produce 100% silk fabric on power loom.Power looms mix silk and synthetic. Handlooms have alsobegun doing this; reducing the gap.

As handloom moved from higher end to lower end products,designs got simplified, rendering it vulnerable to copy by powerloom.

Since handloom owners got to own power looms, it became easyfor them to pass off power loom products as handloomproduced.

The switching practice, in normal course, should evokedisapproval. The disapproval almost withered away because

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many, including government organisations, allegedly resortedto it, it is rumoured to occur at the most high profile spots.

The customer knowledge, in some cases, declined. It is difficultfor an average customer to tell handloom from a power loomproduct. There are simple, practical ways of educating andempowering the customer but the trade channels do notperceive any benefit from such education and have not investedin it.

Representational Agency

While there is an association of traders (gaddedars), there doesnot exist any association of weavers, designers, dyers, card-makers. The biradari or neighbourhood gatherings do not takeup occupational agenda in a comprehensive or a decisive way.The trader association consists of 500 members; it does notadmit a new member unless all members of its governing bodyagree. It is active in terms of lobbying for government policies,dispute redressel and philanthropy.

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T h e We a v e r

As detailed earlier there are about one lac handloom weavers atVaranasi, presently 40,000 are active. 70% of weaver force is inthe city. 90% of city weaver force is Muslim, while 30% ofweaver force in villages is Muslim.

1.8.Weaver force And Its Growth

The weavers are located in the city as well as surroundingvillages. The weaver-population is estimated at 1 lac. Thehandloom census of 1995 reported this at 124832. I have notbeen able to track the growth in weaver population over aperiod of time. However, given the socio-economic compositionof Banaras city, it is believed that weaver population has grownmore rapidly than overall city population. During last 34 years,the weaver population in all likelihood has tripled. This is acrucial in relation to a sector whose performance is deterioratingfor a decade now.

1.9.City Village ConcentrationThe weavers are concentrated in specific parts of the city andselected villages.

Moadanpura and other Area: Silk and silk-cotton kora silk, mainlyChinese yarn. Low-end work

Lohata Silk-Nylon, Polyster-nylon, Polyster-viscose. Lower-end and middle-end work.Largely crepe and work on it

Badibazar and Pililothi Middle-end Traditional Work. Satin-basedWork. Mainly Karnataka Yarn

Rampur Higher end work

Chandeli Higher end work

70% of weaver-force is located in Banaras city. In the city 90% ofweaver force is estimated to be Muslim. In villages, backward

communities dominate weaving and account for reportedly 70%of weaver force, the remaining are largely Muslim. In villages,

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some of the backward class families have tiny land holdings butMuslims, there, by and large, do not have such holding.

1.10.Gender

Weaving is a male centred occupation. I came across rarewomen weavers. The number of women weavers is likely to be athree-digit one. However, there is reeling and bobbin-fillingwork which is generally done by women. The implicit workloadis generally played down. Such work amounts to 6% to 8% ofweaving work in terms of time. Its labour cost gets maskedincluded under wage payment which a weaver receives.

1.11.Active Weaver forceIn a discussion on weaver force, the concept of active weaverforce, sometimes, gets relegated to background. A broadestimate of such workforce is 40,000. The power loom weavershave largely moved from handloom sector and this, sometimes,is responsible for fuzziness in numbers.

1.12.Career Span

While a weaver carries on till late age, depending on hiseyesight and health, he is most productive in 18-45 age group.Subsequently, productivity (and hence earnings) decline.

1.13.Skill Differences

At a fundamental level, the skill differences across weavers arenot significant. The skill range, intrinsically is not as wide as,say, in case of carving. However, weavers develop anorientation based on the nature of work they do. Thus, a weaverworking on a high-end product cultivates an eye for errors andacquires patience and precision. The trade, in its own context,highlights these traits and tends, sometimes, to present these asbasic differences in skill.

1.14.Work Models

A weaver works either as a mere wage earner or as a produceror on a mixed pattern. Under wage earning pattern, he receives

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dyed yarn and returns a hand woven product made accordingto the design provided by CG 2.

As a producer, he sources yarn; gets its twisted, dyed; eitherselects the design or receives it from CG 2 and produces a handwoven product, either in anticipation of demand or against aprior order. A weaver who follows the producer model,generally, has at least two looms.

95% of weavers are now wage receivers and hence producermodel is of limited interest.

1.15.Wage Fixation and Relationship

The wage-fixation process, apparently, is well negotiated. Aweaver, first weaves a saree according to the sample, figures outthe workload and then negotiates the weaving charge. However,he generally works for one or two CG 2 and the negotiationoccurs in the framework of his relationship; personalcircumstance and market knowledge. The market for weavingcharge is not exactly perfect in so far as relationship (may be,temporary) is an overriding factor.

A weaver remains loyal to the wage-giver. He does not weavedesign given by one wage-giver, if another wage-giver asks himto weave it. He may change the way-giver every few years. Thediscontent over weaving charge, inadequacy of work, delayedpayment, deduction from committed payment and such otherreasons culminatie into a change. It is a dynamic, humanrelationship. The wage-giver often revises downward thecommitted weaving charge on the ground that the marketconditions and hence sale price realization is poor. There are

penalties for defective work.The wage-givers also give an advance of Rs. 10,000/- to theweaver, early in the relationship. If the weaver moves to anotherCG2, the advance must be settled by him or the CG 2. This is awide scale, though not universal practice. The value of advancein relation to annual earning (50%) imparts to the arrangementan element of disguisedly mild bonded labour.

The wage giver-weaver relationship has some paternalistic

element. In times of business slump, wages farm giver out workto weavers under his fold to support subsistence living for them.

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But then, a weaver is expected to be grateful and understandingand accept less attractive wage from this CG 2 in times ofbusiness peak/weaver shortage. It is a nuance relationship withbuilt in ingredients to delay or avoid the split between the two.

1.16.Channels for Producer Weaver

A producer weaver, by and large, sells to localsatti/grihastha/gaddedar. The incidence of his bypassing theselocal tracks and reaching out to non-local traders or local retailoutlets is negligible.

1.17.Weaver: Preference and Aversion

Some CG 2 maintain that weavers have a penchant for simplework and aversion to high-end work. This appears to be half-truth. A high-end saree may entail two months of weaving;forcing weaver to haggle with CG 2 about the amount of wagepayment receivable against work in progress. Simple work gets

finished in a few days and payment becomes due; ensuringquick cash flow. The risk in terms of

Amount involved

Delayed payment,

Penalties for defective work

Non-payment

It is also low in case of simple work. It is the poor economic

strength of the weaver, which forces him to prefer an average-but-frequent-and-low-risk-cash flow to above average-infrequent-high-risk cash flow.

1.18.Weaver Earnings

The weaver earnings vary from Rs. 18000 to Rs. 30000 perannum (Box-A) . The average is likely to be in Rs. 20000 to 24000range. It is inappropriate to ascribe this fully to the current

slump. If market conditions improve vastly, the worker earnings

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are likely to improve marginally because the weaver force-activeand passive-is so large.

There has been absolute decline in earnings @ at least 30% to40% over last 10 years. A weaver who was getting Rs. 100 perday in mid -1990s gets Rs.60 per day now. If inflation is factoredin, the decline is sharper.

The following illustrates range of decline in absolute earningover last 10 years.

Chaudari Saree : 50% decline.

Organza Saree : 30% decline

Box - A

Weaver Earning

Annual: Rs.18000 to Rs.30,000; the average being somewhere in between.

Over Time

Absolute decline of at least 30% to 40% ovger last 10 yea4rs. a weaver whowas getting Rs. 100 per day in mid-1990s gets Rs.60 per day now. If we factorin inflation, the decline is sharper. The following illustrates range of decline inabsolute earning over last 10 years.

Chaudari Saree : 50% decline.

Organza Saree : 30% decline

The wage earnings from Tankha saree have gone up over last 23 years. By just25%!

The traders and master-weavers emphasise the convenience of working athome for a weaver. This is true but the discussion masks that fact that it helpstraders/master weavers avoid on investment in production space and often inlooms. The discussion focuses solely on return on labour which everyoneacknowledges is a pittance; but bypasses completely the fact that a weaveralso deserves return on space/equipment. The prevailing market value ofspace for two looms is a few lac rupees.

The earning reported include, besides wage payment forweaving work, the following.

Reeling/bobbin filling work put in by the women in the family

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The economic or notional rental for loom-area provided by theweaver (the convenience of working form home is stressed tothe exclusion of fact that the weaver provides space forproduction facility; his family bears the loom noise. The

discussion typically emphasizes weaver advantage and blanksout rent-saving benefit to CG 2.

National interest on investment in looms and depreciationthereon (in some cases CG 2 invests in looms).

If we factor in return on above-cited three components, itseems that the return on weaving labour on average, is in Rs.40 to 45 range.

A weaver, typically, works on a few designs (single digit) in ayear. He is required to spend four to five days for readjustingthe loom and related tasks for changing over from one design toanother. This is not paid for. The receipt of a fresh order itself isconsidered enough compensation. If the order quantities turnout to be small and hence change over frequent, the weaverearnings- other things remaining equal-will be hurt.

1.19.Continuance in Weaving Occupation

Despite this, the weavers continue in this occupation because

Alternative occupational opportunities are not available

Alternative occupations- largely unskilled labour-do not seem topromise better income security and income level

Alternative occupations deprive a worker of the convenience ofworking from home

Alternative occupations entail strenuous physical labour under

harsh conditions and loss of dignityIn personal discussion, most stakeholders (weavers themselvesincluded) present the negative features of alternativeoccupations as the advantages of weaving occupation; wateringdown in the process the key problem of meagre return onweaving work.

1.20.Work Culture

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I must also clarify that work culture is satisfactory. The weaversare willing to put in long hours and sacrifice holidays, if work isthere and wage are decent.

1.21.Weaver ViewThe weaver generally blames market conditions for his plight.The resentment over his share in the cake is rather low-key. Infact, he points out the supposed tightrope walking which CG 2

are doing and does not voice any explicit dissatisfaction abouttheir role or responsibility.

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S u p p o r t E n v i r o n m e n t

1.22.Support StructureThis consists of the following.

Handloom specific government agencies

Handloom co-op societies

District administration

Financial institutions/banks

The Handloom Specific Government Agencies

These are

Directorate of Handloom (DOH)

Weaver Service Center (WSC)

Institute of Handloom Weaving Technology

It registers and assists co-operative societies and monitors theirwork. It manages rebate schemes, if any, on handloom sale andorganizes handloom exposition; (sale-cum-exhibition). DOHmanages schemes of assistance for handloom weavers. Theseinclude loom upgradation, work shed-cum-housing, designdevelopment, skill upgradation, publicity, market developmentassistance, support for export, group insurance, health package,etc.

The WSC focuses on field-training as well on-campus training ofweavers and dyers. It does some amount of productdevelopment work. It develops designs. It issues identity cardsto weavers.

The institute offers a three years diploma in weaving. Theentrants to the college and graduates from it, for practicalpurpose, do not have any link with Banaras handloom sector.

Co-operative Societies

There are 385 handloom weaver societies. These societies, byand large, are private enterprises in spirit. There is generally a

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single individual driving force he may have worked as aweaver earlier. He organises work in a manner a weavingcontractor does and engages with the trade channels in anidentical way. The weaver members are focussed on wage

payment. A society may make an occasional direct sale effortbut the divorce between market/financial operations andweaver role is complete. The society organiser leverages ondevelopmental and welfare schemes for the handloom sectorand the extent of benefits percolating to weavers depends onorganiser orientation. It has become an organisational apparatusto enable a private entrepreneur avail of official incentivesrather than to promote co-operation among weavers forcollective well-being. The public sector banks shy away from thesocieties. The state-government guarantees for assistance to thesocieties arrive almost at year-end; leaving little time forproductive utilisation of assistance. There are some who lamentthe irregularities plaguing many of these societies and clamourfor a probe.

District Administration

Within district administration, there are District Industries

Center, Joint Director of Industries and District RuralDevelopment Agency. The first two reported that givenexistence of DOH, they do not engage in handloom-promotionwork. DRDA has not promoted any self-help groups of weavers.

Union Bank of India is the lead bank. The RBI format forreporting credit targets and performance stipulates handloom asa clear, separate sector and lead banks in most cases, follow thisformat. The banks at Varansi, however, combine handloom with

small industries, making it impossible to ascertain credit tohandloom sector. Thus, there are neither targets norperformance marks in respect of handloom, as stipulated byRBI, though it is the mainstay of local economy.

In personal discussion, bank officials state that credit tohandloom sector is virtually non-existent. The sector-record andprevailing pressure on banking industry to avert risk areresponsible for this.

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has notextended any credit or promotional support to handloom sector

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National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (NABARD)has supported a women self-help group engaged in buying ofcocoons at an auction and reeling it. The work has just begunand it is premature to judge performance. The sector-sources

and sericulture specialists rule out potential for large-scaleorganization of such reeling work.

1.23.Overall Picture

The support mechanism, on the whole, evokes the following.

It is proceeding in an omnibus, routine-rigid, all-India officialformat, touching little on the specific needs of Varansi

The district administration and credit institutions have stayedaway from the sector.

Credit

While the formal or institutional credit has passed by the sector,informal systems thrive.

The traders or job work providers often issue post-dated bearercheques (PDC) to weavers against wage payment. The PDC

system also encompasses, to some extent, such others as dyersand card-cutters. There are battedars who offer cash torecipients of these PDC, of course, at a discount. The weaversbear the discount or the interest burden.

The rate varies from 9% to 30% pa; depending largely on thecreditworthiness of the issuer. There is a reputed local traderwho issues unsigned cheques (the discounter gets cash from thetrader himself or the trader signs it so that discounter gets cashfrom the bank). The volume of such discounted cheques couldnot be ascertained at Varansi but it runs into several crores.

Infrastructure

This impacts productivity, output and profitability in a marginalway. The key issues are housing and electricity. The houses,once, used to be decent sized. The families, during last fewdecades, grew but economic status declined. The houses gotdivided; became smaller and cramped. In many houses, it isalmost impossible to work without electricity. Some houses leak

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in rainy season; affecting tempo in September, around whichtime peak season begins. There are weavers who are used tolistening to tape-recorded music while they weave. The powersupply at Varanasi is erratic. So, many weavers are forced to idle

spells, when power goes off. The cramped housing andcongested surroundings cause family squabbles; dissipatingproductive energy. While there has been some migration tonearby villages to reduce congestion in a house, this has been ona rather limited scale.

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A n a l y s i s o f B u s i n e s s O p e r a t i o n i nt h e C l u s t e r

1.24.Production Process

This consists of yarn de-gumming (some cases), twisting (somecases), pre-weaving operations of bobbin-filling and tani workand weaving based on a given design and corresponding cards.

The post-weaving operations, save packing, occur largely at theretail outlet level.

It is always the yarn, which is dyed.

The production time varies, depending on the design. However,a banarasi saree being woven on handloom in less than six daysis rare. An expensive saree may take a few months. Theaccompanying chart amplifies the process.

26

Yarn

Sourcing,degumming,

twisting and dyeing

eaving ofFabric Sar

Design

Generation, selection, graph-making and card-making for the

Ancillary Operations

Tani work, Bobbin filling

Post-weaving Operations

Packing, Buti-cutting, polish

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1.25.Design

There is all round acknowledgements, among stakeholders, ofthe importance of design. Let us understand the prevailingprocesses.

Mohalla-level Designer: The backbone

There are designers in all weaver neighbourhoods. The estimateof number of designers varies from 100 to 300. A designerundergoes a training-cum-apprenticeship before branching outon his own; beginning in late childhood or teens. It extends upto 8 years. It is nearly fulltime, and in this sense, causes thetrainee to drop out from the school. High school finishingdesigners, thus, are rare.

The (freelancing) designer gets input from masterweaver/trader or develops own design without such input. Hegenerates designs in anticipation of demand; thus incurring therisk and cost of its not being ultimately paid for. An averagedesigner takes one day to produce a design; and produces

around 50 to 75 designs per year. He shares these designs withprospective buyers; fine tunes the chosen one based onfeedback. He gets, on average, Rs.300 for a selected design. Thebuyer may simply buy the design and pay him or ask him tomake a graph as well. He spends two days or so for making agraph. Relative to design generation, graph-making is a routinetask; devoid of creativity. The designer may perform bothfunctions; often receiving a package price. He works for 10 to 15regular customers and a few occasional ones. His exposure todesign books/journals/exhibitions is negligible. His contactwith the external, visible design fraternity is completely absent.He earns around Rs. 4000 per month, net of small expenditureon stationery and colour. His earnings are clearly better thanthose of a weaver; though meagre in themselves. He is thecreative backbone of the sector.

Weaver Service Centre: Design Wing

The Weaver Service Centre (WSC) possesses a design wing. Itproduces designs and sells these to traders. Its designers hold

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internal workshops. It picks an idea, e.g., Panchmahabuta andgenerates designs and makes some impact on the local designscene. The design buyers, sometimes, are niggardly inacknowledging WSC authorship of a design. The following

features of its working, however, are striking.Its ties with mohalla-level designers are weak and nebulous

It interacts mainly with fair-sized or large consolidators/traders.

Its work lacks visibility. For instance, it has not held a wellpublicised exhibition of its work at Varanasi.

National Designers and Banaras

The well-known national designers appear to have adequateknowledge of local outfits, which can produce according to theirspecifications as also the local cost structure. Occassionally, theyget some elements made for incorporation into their work. Theyborrow from Banaras design rather than contribute to it.

Real Life Success Stories: Design

In terms of design innovation, stakeholders cite a solitary

private initiative was taken by one manufacturer M/s NarayanDas Jagdish Das, who develops a new design Valkalam forsaree, which became a runaway success. I could not locate anyother success stories during last one decade.

Design Work: Significant Developments

During last few years, the designs relative to earlier times-have begun changing rapidly. The average life of a saree designearlier was two years. This has now crashed to six months.However, the share of design development in product cost isinsignificant and this has not decisively impacted the pricing orprofitability. It is the short-duration weaving and the risk of aweaving duration being abruptly or prematurely cut shortwhich has put strain on weaver-trader relationship.

The growth of power looms has influenced design work. Thereis a trend towards simplification of product (and hence design);rendering it fit for power loom weaving.

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A priority task for designers now is to work out designsgenerally woven on handloom but achievable on power loom.

Earlier, small designs were repeated on a saree. Now, there is ademand for large, non-repetitive design on a saree.

The Gap

The following gap in the design practices in Banaras could beobserved.

The mohalla-level designer mechanism denotes a highlylocalised and fragmented mechanism; through rich in terms oftraditional knowledge. How much do the numerous designsoverlap? What is the Varanasi-level utilisation (or wastage) oftotal creative output? How do the mohalla-level designersrenew and strengthen their creative resources? How does themarket feedback/ideas flow to the designer? The answers tothese questions are not clear but, on the whole, appearunsatisfactory.

There does not exist any venue at which discerning buyers/craftenthusiasts/ tourists can watch a collection of Varanasi designsin relative ambience. There has not been a single exhibition ofdesign. The interface between the fashion designers and thesemohalla level designers is not present in Banaras.

There does not exist any mechanism for fashion forecasting andmarket feedback to guide the design work.

1.26.Dyeing

This means dyeing of yarn. The estimate of mohalla-level dyersvaries from 300 to 500. They operate from their households.Traditional Dying method is in practise for dying the yarn inBanaras.

Typical Enterprise Scale

A typical dyeing unit possesses 400 to 500 sq. ft of built upspace. Usually it has two chulhas. One chulha handlesmaximum 2.5 kgs of yarn in a batch. It can produce up to 25 kgsin 10 hours and so the capacity of normal dyeing house is 50

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kgs/day. But in normal practice it was found that they do 20 to30 kgs/day. This is mainly because the batch size varies.

The CG 2 orders extremely small quantities. 1 or 2 kg is thenormal dyeing order quantity. But some time the dyers receiveorder for dying big quantities such as 25 kg. A dyeing house willaccept an order of dying even 100 gram of yarn. So for anaverage unit it is difficult to exceed 25 kg/day output.

Economics of dying

The economics are as follows.

Particulars Rs./Kg

Job work Charge 60Coal consumption (2 to 3 kgs/kg. of yarn) 10

Caustic Soda 8

Net payment to hired workers 12

Deduction on account of poor workmanship 2

Bad debts 3

Effective income 25

The customer, in respect of above costing, supplies the colour. Adyeing house handles 625 kgs/month, earning a net jobworkincome of Rs. 18750/-. It employs 7 workers and 3 familymembers. The three family members, put together, earnRs.15,625 /-. They put in own labour; invest in working capital,assume business risk and dedicate premises. The ownersclaimed that premises are worth Rs. 20 lacs. Even if this isexaggerated, it is clearly a repeat of non-rental-for-premisessyndrome which weavers face. Admittedly, the condition ofdyers is not as pathetic as that of weavers.

Dyeing forms a small part of total product cost and hence lowcompulsion to reduce this cost.

Timetable

It dyer generally delivers the finished yarn the same day. The

work does not stop in monsoon because he is not responsible fordrying.

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Working Condition

The dyeing work clearly entails occupational hazard. There arefumes in not so open premises harmful for respiratory system.There is ungloved handling of caustic soda. The energy waste inchullahs is considerable.

Vegetable Dyeing

WSC and few others have utilised vegetable dyes. This remainsa limited experience. Besides, they do not seem to have achievedaccess to relevant markets. Vegetable colours may mildly fade;they are not identical across batches. A vegetable dyeenthusiastic outlet/buyer, according to some experts, readily

accepts these limitations. The Banaras exporters cited these asmajor problem, implying, according to these experts, thatBanaras exporters have not located the right customers yet.

Quality and Technology

The poor colouring is a widely felt concern at Banarasi. A dryerwith whom I spent time admitted that colour on 10% of outputruns. There are inferior colours, inadequate time and not enough

temperature.There are two views on the soundness of technology.

One concludes it is intrinsically flawed. Other is that for tinylots, this is ideal and if operating procedures are followedthoroughly, colours will not run.

The government provided semi-automatic plants to two co-operative units of 20 kg/batch capacity each. These have notdone well, reportedly because of lower effective capacity andelectricity problem. In any case, these have functioned as captiveunits; not open to others and so have not made any difference tolocal dyeing scene.

In the whole chain of operations, there is unanimity that dyeingis the weakest element and responsible for damaging customer-confidence across product line.

1.27.Card Making

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This is a somewhat mechanical and hence not so criticaloperation in the chain. There are cards hung from the top of theloom, which guides the thread and thus weaving. A designgenerally involves a few hundred cards. A card cutter cuts and

punches these with small non-electric implements, workingfrom his own premises. He makes 200 cards/day. He chargesRs. 2 per card. The raw material cost is Rs. 1 per card. He, thus,earns almost Rs. 200 per day. He receives cash payment. He getscards on credit. The raw material cost has gone up by 25% in lastseven years, while selling price of card has stagnated; hurtingthe wage earning. However, a card-cutter is significantly betteroff than a weaver.

1.28.Weaving

This entails pre-weaving operations shown under earlier chart.On the loom, jacquard has spread fully. I did not come acrosssignificant ideas for weaving technology improvement exceptthat the weaver faces the reverse side of the fabric and utilises amirror to check defects. Most regard this as a non-issue but anaward winning weaver calls it a significant issue. I have devoteda separate chapter to weaver issues.

1.29.Raw Material

These are silk yarn, zari, art silk and in some cases,

The import of silk yarn was earlier licensed, causing market-distortions. Now, it is under OGL and the stakeholders arehappy over this. The imported silk yarn comes mainly fromChina. There is anti dumping duty on it (total duty @ 30%). The

popular deniers are: 16-18, 20-22, 24-26. The yarn consumptionvaries from 35 gms to 80 gms per sq. mts.

Generally, the warp yarn is not de-gummed, while weft yarn isde-gummed. De-gumming pushes up yarn price by 25%. Thewarp yarn may be single ply or two ply. The weft yarn istwisted; two ply. Two ply yarn is not de-gummed. It is calledkora. Once it is de-gummed, it is called katan.

The estimated share of Chinese yarn consumption varies from

50% to 65% of total silk yarn consumption at Banaras.

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The availability, distribution, pricing and price-volatility, on thewhole, are satisfactory and the stakeholders do not voice eitherpolicy or market-centered grievances.

1.30.Raw Material Price: Broad Indicators

Chinese Yarn Rs. 1200/kg

Karnataka Yarn Rs. 1500/kg

Art silk (for mina) Rs. 250/kg

De-gumming of Yarn 2.5% loss

Twisting Cost Rs. 200/kg

Zari

Real Rs. 10,000/kg

Powder Rs. 1800/kg

Imitation Rs. 600 to 700/kg

Plastic Rs. 400/kg

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1.31.Weaver Co-operatives: Some Profiles

I am presenting below the profiles of three successful co-opsocieties to strengthen our understanding of weaver/sector.

Angika

Amrish is the leader of Angika, a co-op society, working for 25years now, in Ramnagar. There are estimatedly 5000 weavers inRamnagar. Angika membership is 250 weavers. Dyeing is doneby non-members. It is largely into sarees. Non-saree outputaccounts for 15% of total output. 80% of its saree production isorganza; in Rs. 1200 to Rs. 3000 price range.

The dress material/furnishing/ fashion accessories do not enjoya ready Banaras brand equity and weavers are also not quite athome with these products. This limits the volumes.

80% to 90% of Angika outputs is sold in the local market.

They receive firm advance orders and price commitment inrespect of 25% to 30% of outputs; rest is in anticipation of

demand. They were into Tibetan brocade business but have nowphased out.

The society has reported the following financial results.

Year Sales Turnover(Rs. in lac)

Wage Payment toWeavers (Rs. in lac)

Profit/Loss (Rs. inlac)

2004-05 120.00 32.00 9.50

2003-04 110.00 30.00 9.00

2002-03 105.00 29.00 8.00

200 weavers are active; so average annual payout should be Rs.16000 per year (2004-05). On weaver earning, in personaldiscussion, Amrish reported Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 40,000 annualweaver earning for top 10 weaver and Rs. 12,000 for bottom 10weavers. In a formal format, he reported the following annualweaver earning.

Maximum Rs. 27000

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Minimum Rs. 22000

Average Rs. 24000

Evidently, the average earning (Rs. 24000), the active weaver

force (200) and the annual payment to weavers (Rs. 32 lacs) donot tally.

The weavers have availed of the following benefits

Workshed

8 Health Nil Insurance Nil LoomUpgradation

12

IDCard

Nil CreditCard

Nil Loan Nil OtherSpecify

Nil

This is a successful well-organized society with relatively happyweavers.

Tibetan Brocade

Sami Khan is the driving force behind a group of weavers in avillage few kms. from Varanasi. He is engaged in weavingsarees and Tibetan brocade. The Tibetan brocade sells @ Rs. 100to 1000/sq.mtr. The annual sale is Rs. 1.25 crores. He operates anoutfit in Nepal which is the conduit for sale to Tibet and China.He emphasises that Tibet is closed for personal businessexploration and thus is grievously hurting his margins as well asvolumes. The brocade is a religious product; it is cut upaccording to a religious code and incorporated into garments.He does not have either knowledge of the religious complexityof end product or of making such end-products.

90% of his Tibetan brocade output is Nepal bound; just 10% sellsin India.

Jagannath : An Exclusive Saree Weaver Group

This is a traditional weaver family, which has structured privateenterprise into a co-operative format. It operates two co-opsocieties whose combined annual turnover is around Rs. 1crores; the business is stagnating for some years now. The groupprovides 800 to 900 sarees and 200 to 300 lahengas per year, the

unit price realisation is around Rs. 10,000/-. There are 200weavers under its fold; most of them in 40 to 50 year age -group

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because work demands patience and precision. Half of themwork from home; the other half work at centralised work shedset up by Jagannath because supervision helps in such work.

They are one of the few outfits at Varanasi known for higher-end work. However, the weavers or owners are notflourishing. They have a linkage with a few high profile retailoutlets across the country, eg, Kala Niketan. They producedesigns and samples. The owners of retail outlets drive a hardbargain before committing a quantity; forcing Jagannath to cutcorners. The old customers make quick payment but expectthem not to work for other/new customers. The new customerssecure credit. They are aware of the huge margin of retail outlets

but do not participate in exhibitions. There is a tacitunderstanding that they will not short circuit the channel. Theyscan design magazines. The owner could reel off a celebrity listand a designer-list; having interacted with many of these. Theyfind a way of reaching out to celebrities who came Varanasithrough hotel-channels but such direct sale is negligible.National designers source from them but such direct sale is alsolittle. They have a bank limit of just Rs.1.75 lacs and interest is14% per annum (they reportedly had defaulted on an earlier

loan).In personal discussion, the owner admitted that it is the retailoutlets brand equity and range which sell. He toyed with suchideas as putting up an exhibition in a large city, while hidingown identity. On contacting a few celebrities and high networkindividuals (they have a database) in a large city. Both proposalsentail working capital investment and require discreet action.

They also have electricity problem. The growth of embroidery/

embellishment poses a threat to Banarasi saree. Banaras presenta weave leading to apprise of, Say Rs. 10,000/-. The hand-wroked saree is often a Rs. 2000 (power loom) saree on whichhandwork is valued at Rs. 8000/-; presenting a Rs. 10,000 optionto the customer. Handwork unlike weaving can be unique toa single saree, enhancing its exclusive character. The exclusivityadvantage of handwork has dented the emphasis on premiumweaving.

The children of gifted weavers are not interested in weaving.They are entering embroidery, wooden toy and sculpture work.

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S u r v e y A n a l y s i s

To understand the working, business operations and problems,the Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India organizeda structured questionnaire based survey among 88 weavers, 5Designers, 6 Traders and 5 Cooperative societies.

Total 4 questionnaires were developed for conduction survey fordifferent cluster actors. Copies of the Questionnaire are enclosedas Annexure

It was a sample survey and the findings are as follows.

Weaver Survey

Together, they possess 202 working loom; (Table-1) denoting anaverage of 2.4 looms per interviewed weaver (family).

CG2 have provided 2 looms (2) to just one of the 88 weaverfamilies.

Each weaver family, on average, has folded and put away 0.64looms. In other words, one out of every five looms is folded andstacked away.TABLE 1 - LOOMS OWNERSHIP

No. of LoomsWorkingLooms

Looms provided byGrihastha/Others

Looms foldedstacked put away

0 3 87 43

1 11 0 27

2 51 1 14

3 13 0 14 10 0 1

5 or more 0 0 2

Total No. ofweavers

88 88 88

Looms sold in the last three years: 0

Looms bought in the last three years: 0

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There are on average 2.42 weavers (family members) per family.(Table 2)

TABLE 2 - FAMILY WEAVERS

Working Family Weavers Weaver Family

1 14

2 50

3 10

4 6

5 3

6 17 1

12 1

Total 86

Weighted Average 2.42

In addition, they have hired workers- a weaver family, on

average, has hired 0.43 workers (Table-3) . The recourse to hiredworkers, thus, is limited- just one hired worker for six workingfamily members.

TABLE 3 - HIRED WEAVING WORKERS

Hired Workers Weavers

0 56

1 242 5

3 1

Total 86

Weighted average 0.43

77 out of 86 reporting weaver-families work as job-workers. Just

8% of them buy their own yarn (Table-4) .

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TABLE 4 - MODE OF WORKING

The weaver-families reported the following yarn consumptionin last three years (Table-5)

Silk : 20.64 kgs

Art silk : 16.81 kgs

Zari : 17.88 kgs

Other Yarn : 5.38 kg

TABLE 5 - YARN CONSUMPTION

Yarn Consumption in lastthree years in Kgs

Silk Art silk Zari OtherMaterial

1 to 5 kg 0 0 0 51

5 to 10 kg 9 22 18 24

11 to 20 kg 37 43 41 4

21 to 30 kg 27 10 15 0

31 to 40 kg 6 4 6 1

More than 40 kg 3 3 2 0Total 82 82 82 80

Weighted average 20.64 16.81 17.88 5.38

The finding highlights an annual average consumption of 20.2kgs per family or 8.78 kgs per working loom. It shows that theshare of silk in total consumption is 34% only.

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Mode of Working No. of Weavers

Own yarn 7

Job-work against labour payment 77

Mixed 2

Total 86


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The interviewee families report having made 67 sarees, onaverage, during last three years; yielding an annual average oflittle over 22 or 10.2 sarees/loom/year.

82 out of 86 reporting families are engaged in saree weaving(Table-6) .

TABLE 6 - PRODUCT MADE DURING LAST 3 YEARS

Sari No. of Weavers

None 4

1 to 25 2

26 to 50 22

51 to 75 17

76 to 100 35

101 to 125 4

More than 125 2

Total 86


On the other hand, just 9 out of 86 families pursue weaving ofdress material. They have woven dress material @ 4.23mtrs/loom year (Table-7) .

TABLE 7 - PRODUCT MADE DURING LAST 3 YEARS (DRESS MATERIAL)

Dress Material (Mt) No. of Weavers

Nil 77

100 to 200 Mt. 4

201 to 300 Mt 1

301 to 400 Mt 1

401 to 500 Mt 3

Total 86


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The working loom days at the disposal of weaver-families are74460/year (no of looms x 365 days). On a voluntary basis, theydid not work for 6630 loomdays (8.9%) (Table-8) .

TABLE 8 - VOLUNTARY CLOSURE DURING THE YEAR

Closure Loom Days No. of Weavers

30 to 60 days 25

61 to 90 days 42

91 to 120 days 11

121 to 150 days 5

151 to 180 days 3

Total 86


They were forced to remain closed for 10183 loom days (13.67%)(Table-9) . In other words, a loom was voluntarily not workedfor 32.5 days; it was forced-presumably for lack of work-for-50days; implying that it worked for 283 days in a year.

TABLE 9 - FOOD CLOSURE DURING THE YEAR

Closure Loom Days No. of Weavers

Nil 54

30 to 120 days 16

121 to 210 days 1

211 to 300 days 0

300 to 390 days 7391 to 730 days 5

Over 1000 days 3

Total 86


The nine weaver interviewees who buy their own yarn and

pursue weaving as a business reported an annual turnover of

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Rs. 15.87 lacs. Their net income can be estimated to be aroundRs.5 lacs or Rs. 57000 per family (Table-10) .

TABLE 10EARNINGS DURING LAST ONE YEAR OWN-YARN WORK

Sale Proceeds (Rs.) Weavers (No)

Nil 77

60000 to 75000 2

75001 to 100000 1

100001 to 180000 3

More than 250000 3

Total 86Weighted Average 18459.33

There are 77 job work families, which reported earning of Rs.32.12 lacs or Rs. 41714 per family/year. We saw earlier that thereare 2.4 weavers/family. This suggests an annual job workearning of Rs. 17380 per weaver/year. Or a daily earning (283days) of Rs. 61.4. ( Table -11 )

TABLE 11 - EARNINGS DURING LAST ONE YEAR JOB-WORK

Wages Received (Rs.) Weavers (No)

Nil 8

up to 24000 13

24001 to 48000 37

48001 to 72000 25

72001 to 96000 1More than 125000 1

Do not want to tell 1

Stop weaving 2

Total 88


I conducted interviews on benefits from the governmentschemes. They claim not having received benefit under any

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scheme, barring a solitary weaver acknowledging insurancebenefit (Table-12) .

TABLE 12 - BENEFITS RECEIVED (Y/N) (NO OF WEAVER)

Health Insurance Work shed Credit card Other (Specify)Yes 0 1 1 0 0

No 88 87 87 88 88

Total 88 88 88 88 88

45% of weavers are aware of the existence of Weaver ServiceCentre (Table-13) ; others are not.

TABLE 13 - AWARENESS: WEAVER SERVICE CENTER (NO OF WEAVER)

Awareness Weavers

Yes 40

No 48

Total 88

Six out of 88 weavers have drawn design support from WSC;other have not derived any benefit from it (Table-14).

TABLE 14 - BENEFIT FROM WSC

Benefits Received Yes No Total

Training 0 88 88

Design 6 82 88

Other 1 87 88

43% of weavers find the future of weaving occupation bleak,

while 30% believe the opposite, rest belong to do not knowcategory (Table-15) .

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TABLE 15 - FUTURE OF HANDLOOM WEAVING OCCUPATION (NO. OF

WEAVERS)

Future Weavers

Bright 26

Bleak 38

Do not Know 24

Total 88

However, under 3% of weavers plan to move to other

occupations (Table-16).

TABLE 16 - PLAN TO MOVE TO OTHER OCCUPATION

Plans to move to other occupation Nos. of weavers

Yes 3

No 85

Do not Know 0

Total 88

The combination of traders and govt. (50%) tops the list ofthose who are responsible for the decline in the eyes ofweaver (Table-17) . There are 43% who blame govt. alone and6% who blame traders alone.

TABLE 17 - RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DECLINE (NO. OF WEAVERS)

Responsible Weavers

Traders and Govt. 36

Govt. alone 31

Traders alone 4

None 2

Govt., Weavers and Fate 1

Do not know 14Total 88

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TABLE 18 - FAMILY

Adult working Adult non-working Children Total

Male 202 53 214 469

Female 156 57 264 477

Total 358 110 478 946

TABLE 19 - ASSETS

Premises No of weaversOwn 88

Hired 0

Total 88

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1.32.

C o m m o n We a v e r C o m m e n t sPower looms are affecting handlooms

No option available for shifting to any other work

Efforts should be done to strengthen the marketing ofBanaras handloom products

Problem is due to slump in market

No timely payment of wagesGovt. should make efforts to improve marketing ofproducts and condition of weavers

Designer Survey

Interaction with Five designers brought out the following.

All underwent apprenticeship, ranging from 6 to 9 years

In 2004, three designers generated 101 to 150 designs

each; 2 produced 151 to 200 designs; one made less than50 designs

In 2004, three designers generated 26 to 40 graphs, othertwo generated 25 or less graphs

Four designers reported that 50% of their designs getsold; one said this was 60%

Three designers work for 8 to 15 regular clients each; 8 to15 not-s-regular clients each and 5 to 10 rare clients each.Two designers do not have any regular clients at all

In 2004, four designers reported an annual earning of Rs.24,000 to 40,000 each, while one designer earned less thanRs. 5,000

They receive cash payment for design and graph work

None of the five designers is aware of success or failure ofhis designs

Three designers scan books/magazines; two do not

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Only one of the five designers has designed a productother than a saree

None of the five designers have met designers from othercities/institutions /abroad. None has even seen a designexhibition or design samples

Three designers are aware of the existence of WSC; nonehas ever visited WSC

Two designers emphasised not getting regular work as akey problem; the other two felt not enough work is theproblem. One stressed unattractive rate for design work

Four designers advocated government action on

handloom marketing; while one designer suggesteddesign intervention to raise sector prospects

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Market Dynamics

The market conditions and dynamics have undergone a change.There is an all India decline in the demand for sarees. Within theexpensive saree band, the significance of embroidery and suchother valued-added work has grown. This has seriously dentedthe appeal of weave in the aesthetic consciousness of Indiancustomer. This, in turn, has vastly diluted the brand equity ofBanaras weave. The traditional Banarasi saree, consequently,has suffered in the market place.

Policy Environment

The anatomy of policy set could not be dissected but there is

reason to believe that the policy environment and its groundlevel implementation in terms of taxes and duties on domesticsilk industry, foreign yarn, foreign fabric, entry-exit for powerloom and product reservation for handloom, in conjunction withmarket dynamics, have come in the way of Varansi handloomsector recovering ground.

Practical Consequence

On a practical plane, there are issues ofBrand equity

Product development

Product improvement

Market promotion

Technology problem-solving

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S w o t A n a l y s i s

It will be rather simplistic to select features/developments anddescribe these as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities andthreats (SWOT). The reality is too nuanced to allow suchlaboured descriptions. Hence, i am presenting a pertinent ratherthan a cut-and-dried picture in this regard.

The traditional strength of the industry is its brand equity(Banarasi handloom silk saree) but this has weakened in recentyears.

The localization of weaver-force; dyers; designers, card-cutters,loom fabricators and traders- the pool of competencies andresources- is a major strength but this is no longer handloom-dedicated and in that sense, is getting dissipated.

When market conditions deteriorate, the stakeholders-particularly weavers- exit; correct the supply side and thusprevent terms of trade from worsening below a minimum mark.The legal framework also can provide a bulwark against theterms for weavers deteriorating below a minimum mark. AtVaransi, absence of occupational alternatives and legalframework contribute to freefall. This weakness is responsiblenot merely for worsening of weaver wage levels but also for lackof initiative to shore up the competitive strength of the sector.

There are market and product development opportunities forthe cluster. There is scope for growth in overseas market. On theother hand, there are multiple threats-handloom weavingbecoming a completely unrewarding occupation, handloom

being out-competed by power looms.On the whole, the cluster is facing an uphill task of recoveringlost ground.

For understanding it better given below is the SWOT Analysis ofthe cluster in bullet form

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1.1.1.

1.34.Strength

Traditional Value

Availability of skilled weavers

All the back word linkages are available

Being a famous tourist place good Connectivity withmajor cities

Existence of strong Traders Association

1.35.Weakness

Dependency on one product

Highly unorganized cluster

Over work force

Products are relatively costly because of use of costlyyarn

Need of Dry CleaningInferior quality of dying

Low credit from financial institutions

City infrastructure is bad

Brand Equity of product is declining

Decline in wages of weavers

No regular work for weavers

1.36.Opportunity

Brand Building

Product diversification

Exploration of new market

Export

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Reduction in custom duties on Yarn

Product/Design patenting

Registration of Banarasi Products under Geographical

Indignation Registration Act

1.37.Threat

Competition from other clusters

Decline in demand of Saree

Increase in demand of value added products

Increase in demand of low cost power loom products

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S t r a t e g y A n d A c t i o n P l a n 1

1.38.Strategy

There is an intense external environment over which we do nothave control. There are stakeholders whose interests are variedand potentially in conflict. There is a large non-handloomreality-growth of power loom, absence of employment avenuesin Varansi city-which is impacting cluster performance. Underthese circumstances, a deterministic strategy of listing cut anddried tasks and expecting these to deliver results will not beeffective. The key challenge lies in building vibrant institutionalor organizational apparatus. The building of necessaryorganizational initiatives, their trial run, emergence andstabilization of leadership and management structures withinthese organizations and acquisition of some amount ofautonomy by them in terms of prioritization of tasks andmanner of performing them are the preconditions for cluster-revival and growth. The organizational development work will

take at least a year.While some direct cluster-improvement action is needed totrigger interest and to provide a meeting ground, TheDevelopment Commissioner, Handloom, Govt., of India(DCHGI) should hold back major investment programmes untilorganizational development is achieved. This is also essential toavoid the programme getting positioned as govt. assistanceprogramme or govt., owned programme and thestakeholders vying merely for a slice of individual benefit.

The action plan outline by us in the following section should beviewed in this particular strategic perspective.Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of Indiaproposes an action plan consisting of the following.

1) Platform for market and technology initiatives (PMTI)

2) Handloom Alone Alliance (HAA)

3) Revamping of Support Structure

1 As suggested by ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE OF INDIA

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4) Weaver Organization and Capacity Building

5) Large Player Entry

6) Let us amplify this.

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PMTI

The first and foremost task is dialoguing with weavers,designers, dyers, trades and support institutions to create aplatform for market and technology initiatives (PMTI). Whilethe broad objective of PMTI is clear, we should not be in a hurryto formalize its existence, to lay down its constitution ormanagement structure. It should evolve over a period of oneyear so that the various constituents develop a consensualagenda and leadership emerges.

The following menu was proposed for PMTI but this menu

should not be followed in a prescriptive way. PMTI, withassistance from steering agency (EDII), will prioritize, sequenceand fine-tune areas for action.

A Brand Equity For Banaras

The challenge is restoring the appeal/image of Banarasihandloom saree weave in the mind of contemporary Indianconsumer. Subsequently, the brand equity campaign may covernon-saree products. The trader association, in personal

discussion, showed preparedness to bear 25% of cost ofpromotional campaign. They have concluded that a minimumtotal budget of Rs. 10 crores is needed; I endorse this particularassessment of minimum budget.

The brand equity campaign-ads, publicity, stories, events,contests- should be designed with specialized inputs from amarket research/ad agency. It is expected to arrest the decline inoverall sales volume and iron out seasonal troughs in demand.

It will help all stakeholders. This is a major investment and itshould be made only after PMTI takes off and stabilizes andequips itself with a capacity to assess the impact of brand equitycampaign to make mid-course corrections in its implementation.

DCHGI should commit 75% of budget because this will be themost impact-making action.

Steering agency should promote a monitoring-follow up-further funding mechanism for continue brand equity focused

work within PMTI.

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The campaign should aim at both-immediate growth in salesvolume and strengthening Banarasi weave image on anenduring basis.

B Dyeing

This is a major gap in the prevailing technology package atVaransi, hurting product quality and hence market prospects.Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of Indiaproposes two-fold action.

First, a dyeing technology team in which trade expert isincluded should undertake work on best practices and marginalimprovements within the broad parameters-space, batch-quantity, batch-time, capital expenditure- of existing dyeingtechnology so pervasive at Varanasi.

The proposals for additional capital expenditure to improvetechnology are welcome but we should not expect dyer to bear,say, an amount higher than Rs. 25000/-. The additional capitalexpenditure should not be heavily subsidized. If subsidy isessential, it should not exceed 50% of capex. Thus, the groupshould keep in mind a ceiling of Rs. 50,000 in terms of freshcapex.

It will work not merely on product-quality but also production-economics and working conditions/occupational health in thecourse of its work.

Its responsibility should not cease at recommendation. It willtake up dissemination. It should put value on traditionalknowledge of dyers; demonstrate an open mind, work in a two-way learning format; show sensitivity to dyer-levelconsiderations and aim at genuine improvement.

We envisage a programme whose duration will be minimum 2years; maximum three years. The following budget is suggested.

Payment to technology agency : Rs. 40 lacs

Subsidy/soft loan to dyeing enterprises : Rs. 30 lacs

Total : Rs. 70 lacs

Secondly, the technology agency should work out a techno-economic package for 200 to 500 kg/day dyeing unit. This is

propose because it will deliver scale and quality required by

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some producers and provide a basis for gradual transformationof product quality at Varanasi.

PMTI will consider the technology package and determine anappropriate ownership/management model as well as numberof facilities required. The model may be common dyeing facilitycentre (one or two or three CDFC, in phases) or privately ownedfacility backed by a package of incentives. We should be open toboth models. If it is a CDFC, the stakeholders should contributeat least 50% to corpus, balance will flow from DCHGI. If it isprivately owned, there can be a corpus -based subsidy -say,25%. While we are not in a position to estimate the corpus-subsidy accurately, preliminary consultations show that an

amount of Rs. 50 lacs will be adequate.C Design

The design is the most dominant feature of Varansi productoffering and hence is a determinant of market volume. Theobjectives of design-focussed work are as follows.

To orient Banaras design, without undermining itstraditional core, to the needs of present market at onelevel, and at another, to elevate it to the status of shaping

aesthetic tastes and fashion trends in the Indian marketplace

To create designs, particularly in the lower-end segment,which cannot be easily copied on power loom

To strengthen the capacity of Varansi-level designers interms of comprehension of market trends, creativecompetencies and adapting creative genius to marketcontext.

These objectives warrant the following work.

Creating and promoting new designs, which are the jointoutput of market-savvy external designers and localdesigners

To set up a fashion forecasting mechanism, relevant toVaransi product, which will feed into design work.

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To organize orientation, training and exposureprogrammes for local designers

To organize programmes/events for weavers/ CG 2 toenhance their understanding of design

To set up an ongoing arrangement for display of design-samples, ideas literature and related material of interestto designers.

This four-point action plan will contribute to revitalizing themarket for Banaras weave. In addition, it will enhance therelevance of local designers and weavers/CG 2 to the market.

Such institution as NIFT, under the guidance of PMTI and

informal designer-leadership, can assume responsibility for theprogramme.

Before launching the programme, steering agency shouldundertake work to understand occupational and life-processesof local designer fraternity, its relationship with otherstakeholders and create a favourable climate for the programme.

D Dry Cleaning

This is a major limitation of a hand woven silk product. Thismakes product cleaning unfriendly and expensive. DCHGIneeds to commission research to develop and establish customerfriendly and cost effective alternatives to dry cleaning. We arenot in a position to anticipate the outcome or the requiredbudget.

E Product Development And Promotion

There are non-saree products in respect of which localcompetencies, networking and Banaras brand equity are weak.These are

Dress material in general and ready-to-stitch units ofdress material

Upholstery and furnishing fabric

Madeups, e.g., cushion covers, purses

Scarves, stoles, ties and such other accessories

The focal point of action, in this area, should be CG 2. Theinterested CG 2 should be encouraged to form a network and

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formulate proposals for receiving specialized assistance andmutual co-operation. The network will require design, productdevelopment, market-information, marketing assistance, brandequity promotion, export promotion, weaver capacity building,

designer capacity building, and such other assistance. Thenetwork will function with support from steering agency.

It will be a fairly autonomous network, which will contribute25% of the cost of assistance proposal it moots.

The network will articulate its own needs, prioritize andschedule these, locate specialist/consultancy sources and awardwork and devise a way of tracking the impact of its initiatives.

The network may set up a vision of accomplishing a Rs. 100crore turnover over a five years period, and half of this beingexport-bound. This is an illustrative statement.

On a preliminary basis, I estimate a budget of Rs. 80 lacs, over aperiod of three years, out of which the network itself will bearRs. 20 lacs.

Handloom Alone Alliance

In the prevailing atmosphere at Varansi, it will be useful toencourage some CG 2s to dedicate themselves exclusively tohandloom sector. Such CG 2s will come together and formHandloom Alone Alliance (HAA). There are likely to be fewCG2s who, for various reasons, are not into power loom or wishto exit from power loom. We need to provide substantives aswell as moral support to such CG 2s. At the most elementarylevel, the DCGHI support to the alliance will send out a messagethat the government is aware of dual membership reality and

wishes to assist those meet clearly the competitive challenge ofpower loom. The formation of alliance will bring out ideas froma segment of CG 2s about required action to strengthenhandloom vis--vis power loom and these ideas will have agreater chance of success because CG 2 themselves will beresponsible for implementation. Unlike other programmes, thepromotional content of the programme should be funded fullyby DCHGI.

No required action could be identified but the alliance maymoot such ideas as

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Privileged subsidized access to raw material

Enforcement of handloom product reservation act

Ban on production of certain kinds of designs on power

loomPropagation of geographical indication system

Advocacy for mandatory certification/declaration ofhandloom character of products in the overseas market

Campaign to enable the average Indian customer todistinguish handloom from power loom.

We came across a few practical tips which would enable an

average customer to tell handloom from power loom and acampaign in this behalf need not be limited to Banaras silk sareealone.

The alliance proposals will have to be vetted. For example,demand for subsidized access to raw material may spawnmarket distortions and even irregularities. We shall have tofollow a real-cum-psychological support mechanism to nurturethe alliance and pave way for its growth.

The alliance should be promoted independent of PMTI and thework for its formation should commence only after PMTI takesoff.

Policy Research And Advocacy

There is a popular demand at Varnasi for introduction of anti-dumping duty on imported (Chinese) fabric oste

Documents

The Silence of the looms