Non-farm Sector Enterprises and Employment
149
multiple channels but access to scheme
benefits has always been limited. A number
of programmes by the states and central
government have been initiated for skills
training and for establishing raw materials
supply, either through state organisations
or through collectives of handicrafts men.
Credit through banking system at subsi-
dised rates is facilitated and market link-
ages through Khadi and Village Industries
Boards (KVIBs), Handicrafts Development
Corporations, Export Promotion Council
for Handicrafts (EPCH) and periodic sales
campaigns in different cities. But the reach
of all these development programmes has
been limited. Except in niche markets,
remunerative prices for handicrafts are nor-
mally not available and artisans are unable
to recover the total cost of production and
materials along with the labour component.
Very often, the livelihoods of craftsmen are
at a subsistence level despite the support
available from different agencies.
There are a few well organised value
chains within the handicrafts sector that have
been able to provide a steady and reason-
ably remunerative market. Institutions like
FabIndia, Tribes India, Cottage Industries
Exposition Limited (CIE), Ode to Earth,
ANTS Foundation, Urmul and Bandhan
Creations etc., have managed to secure fair
prices for artisans’ products through their
marketing initiatives. The number of such
market-oriented institutions which can
link with craftsmen at the backend should
increase. Without substantial investments in
marketing, it would be difficult to achieve
the projected growth in gainful employment
of people in the handicrafts sector.
KPMG, in a paper prepared for NSDC,
pointed out that lack of adequate data
on the number of craftsmen, their socio-
economic status, livelihood conditions
and details of families, is a major bot-
tleneck that affects planning and policy
making. It also listed lack of access to
credit at reasonable rates, problems with
raw material supply, infrastructure and
technology gaps, technical resource gaps
and inefficient programme implementa-
tion by administrators as impediments to
the growth of the sector. Further, other
issues related to the handicrafts sector are
economies of scale not being achieved on
account of geographic dispersion and lack
of uniform-quality protocols that prevent
aggregation. The dubious role played by
some entities in the private sector which
also handle marketing has come for criti-
cism. Unfair trade practices, delayed pay-
ments, using initial advances to craftsmen
to keep the final payments low, use of
craftsmen as bonded-piece-rate workers
by master craftsmen and traders, are some
market related-problems that still persist.
Cheap imports of substitutes for artisanal
products also eats into the market as well as
their margins. The current focus on train-
ing and building physical infrastructure
can help only to a limited extent. Dignity of
Table 7.7:
Budget allocations for schemes of handicrafts
Scheme
2012–13
achievement
2013–14
budget
2013–14
achievement
2014–15
budget
allocation
2015–16
budget
allocation
National Handicrafts Development Programme
95.79
110 103.27
101
27
Babasaheb Ambedkar Hastshilp Yojana
44.98
3
3.98
6
3
Marketing Support and Services
46.27
37
42.87
34
56
Handicrafts Artisans Comprehensive Welfare Schemes
26.67
24
21.94
32
8
Research and Development
4.75
8
7.66
6
7
Mega clusters
23.38
0
249
123
Total
241.84 182.00 179.72
428
224
Source:
Outcome Budget 2014–15 of Ministry of Textiles, GoI, 2015.
