BARPALLI IKAT WEAVING CLUSTER

DIAGNOSTIC STUDY

UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

Cluster Development Programme
 Contents
S. Item Page No .s
No.

1. Global scenario of handlooms 1- 2

2. Handlooms in India 2
3. Position of Orissa in handlooms 3-4
4. Barpalli Ikat Weaving Cluster 4–5
5. Evolution of the cluster 5–7
6. Structure of the cluster 7 – 10
7. Production Process 10 – 14
8. Value Chain Analysis 14 – 15
9. Analysis of business operations including credit 16 – 20
need analysis for the cluster
10. Support Institutions 20 – 24
11. Social capital of the cluster 25 – 29
12. Infrastructure Analysis 30
13. Current Cluster Map Annexure 3
14. SWOT Analysis 30 – 31
15. Vision 31
16. Implementation Strategy 31 – 33
17. Action Plan 33 - 35

Annexures:

Annexure 1: India: Financial year wise, sector wise and variety wise production of cloth
Annexure 2: India: Export trends in textiles, especially handlooms
Annexure 3: Current Cluster Map
Annexure 4: Present product range of Barpali Cluster
Annexure 5: Benchmarking of Barpali cluster with Sonepur cluster
Annexure 6: List of usual holidays of weavers in Barpali cluster
Annexure 7: List of local clubs in Barpali cluster
Annexure 8: Details of Master Weavers & State/ National Awardees of Barpali Cluster

1
 1. Global Scenario of Handlooms

H
andlooms have remained not only one of the important options of livelihoods but have also
been the saviours of the various traditional skills that have been inherited by the weavers
over generations. The unique and high -skill oriented processes for creating the exquisite
fabrics have helped the handloom tradition survive the onslaught of automated production
systems. It is estimated that today there are about 4.60 million handlooms in the world out
of which about 3.9 million are in India 1. The total handloom production in India was about
5493 million square metres during 2003 – 04. While the major producers are India followed
by Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal, the main importers of textiles & clothing were the
USA, UK, France and Italy.

One of the unique processes in handloom weaving i s the ‘Ikat’ style of weaving. Ikat is a
tie-dye process on either the warp 2 or weft or both according to the design’s needs and
then weaving the yarns to achieve the design. When only warp or weft is tie and dyed, it is
called ‘Single Ikat’, whereas when both the warp and weft are tie-dyed, it is called a
‘Double Ikat’. Ikats have been woven in cultures all over the world. In the 19th century, the
Silk Road desert oases of Bukhara and Samarkand (in what is now Uzbekistan in Central
Asia) were famous for their fine silk ikats. Today Ikat is still common in Central and South
America especially in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. Similarly India,
Japan and several South-East Asia countries have cultures with long histories of Ikat
production. There are known links between Ikat production in India and trade of Ikat to
South-East Asia. Patola cloth, a double ikat from Gujarat, used to be exported to Indonesia
for the use of the royal families. The patterns in the Patola Ikats are strikingly simi lar to the
double ikats produced in Bali, Indonesia.

Whether ‘Ikat’ technique developed in India or any one country alone and then spread from
there, or whether it simultaneously evolved in several countries, is not clearly known. As
such, in spite of the process being essentially the same, it has been ascribed different
names in different countries. It is called ‘Bandha’ or ‘Bandhni’ or ‘Ikat’ in India, ‘Iyo - kasuri’
in Japan, ‘Iban’ in Indonesia and Abrdandi’ or "banded cloud" in Central American
countries. However, the term ‘Ikat’ derives its origin from the word ‘Mengikat’ of Malay
language where it means "to bind, tie or wind around". Through common usage the word
has come to describe both the process and the cloth itself. Ikats are often symbols of
status, wealth, power and prestige. Perhaps because of the difficulty and time required to
make ikats, some cultures go to the extent of believing that the cloth is imbued with
magical powers.

If one can draw a benchmark of Ikat fabrics of these countrie s and that of India, the
information available tells that Endek cloths (the Ikat fabrics of Bali) face competition from

1
Source: Compendium of Textile Statistics 2004 and Compendium of International Textile Statistics 2005
Published by O/o Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, GOI)
2
Warp is a set of yarns in woven fabrics that runs length wise and parallel to the selvedge and is inter woven
with the set of yarns running along the width of the fabric (which is termed as weft).
the printed fabrics of Java or Lombok and turn out to be slightly more expensive. A skilful
weaver of Bali is able to weave not more tha n two meters a day. In comparison to this an
Ikat weaver of Orissa is not able to weave more than a metre per day and in case of
complicated designs such as the ‘Geet Govind’, this becomes even lesser.

2. Handlooms in India

H
andlooms play a significant role in the Indian economy owing to their rural employment
potential3, next only to agriculture, and also for their contribution to exports 4 from the
country. Since 1960 and up to 95, the share of handloom production in the total textile
production remained more or less constant at about 23%. However after 1995, it started
declining and is pegged at 13% during 2004 - 055. The tradition of handlooms is so strong
that the entire country is dotted with places famous for some or the other handloom
product.

If specifically the centres of ‘ikat’ are to be considered then there are only three states that
can boast of this unique tradition – Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. In Gujarat it is
only the Patan area, which produces the ‘Patola’ sari, a wedding sari for the women of
Kathiawar region. In Andhra Pradesh the main areas producing Ikats are the Chirala area
and the Nalgonda district (famous for Pochampalli saris). It is only Orissa, which has the
tradition of ‘Ikat’ across almost the entire state, mainly centr ed in Bolangir – Sonepur –
Bargarh – Sambalpur districts in the Western parts, Cuttack district in the eastern part and
the Kalahandi – Sundergarh districts in the southern parts of the state.

The ‘Ikats’ of Orissa stand apart from the rest other ‘ikat’ traditions due to the unique
design range that they possess, derived from nature and religious themes. Thus while Ikats
of Orissa have a wide range of flowers, trellis patterns, animals, gods and goddesses and
images from day – to day life as their motifs, most other ikat patterns have either geometric
or diffused abstract forms as their motifs. The fine nature of these difficult -to-weave motifs
is possible due to the fine tying and dyeing skills and thereafter weaving skills of the
weavers of Orissa who do not allow any distortions in these motifs during the course of
weaving.

Handloom products have been a major part of export basket of the country. Made ups,
Dhotis and furnishing have been the major contributors to the Handloom exports basket.
Furthermore, the majority of these exports have been to Europe, USA and other Asian
countries.

3
A recent study undertaken by the Planning Commission sug gests that some 12.4 million persons are directly
engaged in handloom weaving, of which 60% are women, and12% are from SC & 20% are from ST categories.
4
The total share of handlooms in textile exports from India is about 10% (EXIM: 2001). The textiles c ontribute
about 35% to the country’s exports.
5
Kindly refer to annexure 1 for more details

2
 3. Position of Orissa in handlooms

Handlooms are a key element of the Orissa’s economy. The Handloom Census of 1987 -88
indicated Orissa's population of handloom weavers at 415,000. Of this, almost 30% were
members of the poorer and relatively disadvantaged Scheduled Castes (SC). Amongst the
population of weavers almost 40% worked on a full -time basis as weavers, and the industry
provided direct employment to 244,000 persons. However, Handlooms census (1995-96)
shows that Orissa's handloom sector generated employment for 208,000 persons 6.
Further, a more recent survey undertaken by the Textiles Committee suggests a total
population of just under 100,000 handloom weavers 7. About 55% of these weavers were
found to be from Orissa's western region. About 85% of the weaver households had only a
single loom, while less than 1% had more than four looms. The bulk of weaver households
came from the other backward castes (76.4% of al l weaver households) and scheduled
castes (17.5% of all weaver households) communities providing ample evidence of a
correlation between weaving and the low incomes and asset base of weaver households.

The weaver population of Orissa can be categorised in to the following typologies:

• Type I (Entrepreneur weavers): buy raw material on their own, work on their own
designs and then market their products through a variety of local channels, traders etc.
• Type II (Labourer weavers) - Weavers linked to master weavers: who receive the raw
material and design brief from the master weaver and pass on the final product to them
and receive their weaving wages in return
• Type III - Cooperative fold weavers: Weavers linked to the primary cooperative
societies which procure raw material, pass it on to the attached weavers, pay them
wages and then market the final products on their own/ through apex cooperative
society (BOYANIKA).

While the type I weavers are quite few in numbers in the state, it is estimated that at least
61%of the handloom production in Orissa moves through master -weavers. Alike most other
states, most of the handloom cooperatives in Orissa have turned defunct with heavy
financial crisis and piled up / blocked stocks. Despite this weavers continue their
relationship with the cooperative societies also. It is significant to note that while the
cooperatives have been receiving regular support of the government, the private master
weavers and traders have built their procurement as well as sales linka ges on their own.
There is however also a possibility that some of these master weavers and traders have
grown out from the cooperative fold, due to their entrepreneurship and comparatively
higher risk taking intentions and ability than the other weavers. Yet again there has been
an effort by various local NGOs, through government schemes and institutions to organise
weavers in the form of SHGs, juxtaposing these as an alternative weavers’ organisation to
reach out to markets and tap the various government schemes’ support. However, this
seems to have not gained any significant movement. The focus of the state government

6
Planning Commission 2002:227 -8
7
Textiles Committee 2003:14
3
department of textiles and handlooms has largely been cooperatives which have been
created, supported and administered by their officials.

Orissa’s handloom base is made of two distinct types of products, the low quality plain
fabrics that are used for towels, dhotis and plain saris (often referred to as 'Janata' or
people's cloth) and the other of high quality, design intensive tie and dye 'Ikat' and 'Bomkai'
fabrics. While the first category of low quality – low skill handloom production has been
facing the stiff competition from power looms at the price front, the other category of high
skill- high quality fabrics, which have bought fame f or the state, have not been able to
reach out to the desired markets in a sustained manner.

Orissa is especially famous for its Ikat tradition which as mentioned earlier, is a state wide
phenomenon. These are produced in both cotton and in silk. The main products are saris
(which accounted for 71% of total handloom production 8), but increasingly weavers are
producing ladies dress material, scarves, bed covers and other home furnishing fabrics.
Given the nature of the designs and the tie and dye process, i kat fabrics cannot be easily
replicated by power looms. However, the artisanal skills involved in producing tie and dye
ikat fabrics, which were unique to Orissa, have been copied, albeit at a lower quality, in
bordering states such as Andhra Pradesh. Yet it is usually acknowledged that the art of ikat
originated from Orissa. Orissa Ikat saris have high demand across the country, especially
for celebratory functions.

4. Barpali Ikat Weaving Cluster

T
he Ikat Handloom Cluster of Barpalli is located in the western part of Orissa and comprises
of three villages of Barpalli and one village of Bijepur block of Bargarh district. As shown in
the map at Annexure 3, the cluster consists of about 215 looms in Barpalli town, 288 looms
in Bandhpali village, 180 looms in Baghbadi village of Barpalli Block; and about 192 looms
in Jalpalli village of Bijepur block. While Barpalli is situated 21 kilometres from the district
head quarter Bargarh, Bandhpali, Baghbadi and Jalpalli are 7km, 9 km and 9 km
respectively from Barpalli town. The entire Barpalli Block of Bargarh district has an area of
282 sq. kms. and 18 Gram Panchayats has 1894 looms spread over 54 villages. However
3 villages of the block namely – Barpalli, Bandhpalli and Baghbadi have nearly 36% of the
total looms. Nearby village of Jalpalli of Bijepur block has another 192 looms. Thus these
four villages have been taken to constitute a cluster.

With a total population of approximately 20,000 in the chosen 4 locations, it is estimated

that approximately 24% of the this population is dependent on handloom weaving and
allied activities i.e. raw material selling, trading, tie & dyeing, etc. The total annual
production of the cluster from the above mentioned four production centres is estimated at
about Rs. 4.25 crores, with the following share of the prevalent product ranges:

• Double Ikat Cotton (of 2/120s cotton) or ‘Sakta’ or ‘Passa Palli’ saris – about 35%
• Sambalpuri cotton single ikat saris (of 2/120s to 2/80s) – about 45%

8
Textiles Committee 2003:21
4
• Dress material (of 2/60s to 2/100s) – about 15%
• Tussar silk/Bafta (cotton + tussar) saris – about 5%

Further details of these product ranges can be seen at annexure 4.

In order to assess the relative position of Barpalli
cluster vis-à-vis another cluster of similar nature, a
benchmarking of Barpalli cluster with Sonepur
cluster of Orissa has been attempted and is
shown at Annexure 5.

It would be worthwhile to mention here that

Barpalli cluster has about 2150 independent
weavers, i.e. the type I weavers. It is also
Weaving of a ‘Bafta’ sari
important to note that the weavers of even the
Costa community, who were earlier into tussar weaving in the cluster, have moved on to
cotton weaving, though of slightly coarser count.

5. Evolution of the Cluster

B
arpalli village was established by the royal Chauhan family of S ambalpur during the last
part of 17th century. The growth of weaving activity in the area is ascribed to the advent of
the ‘Bhulia Meher’ community in around 1765 AD from Sonepur. ‘Bhulia Mehers’ are said
to have been original inhabitants of Rajasthan and Delhi from where they moved to
Dhamantari and Dhansa villages of Raipur district of Chhattisgarh. Later on, they were
brought to Patnagarh of Bolangir district after the first Chauhan King Ramai Deb ascended
the throne of Bolangir Patna. It is presumed that the original ‘Bhulia Meher’ community,
after settling down in the region, intermingled with the other castes too and soon the ‘Costa
Mehers’ (who are usually tussar weavers) and ‘Kuli Mehers’ (who are the least skilled
labour class) came into existence. The Barpalli cluster predominantly consists of the Bhulia
and Costa Mehers. Costa and Bhulia caste figures around 30% and 60% respectively
each, where as Harijan/ Kuli caste accounts for 10% only of the total weaver population in
the cluster.
The impetus to the weaving activity in the modern times came with the establishment of
Sambalpuri Vastralaya during the year 1942 as a partnership business amongst late
Padamshri Krutartha Ch. Acharya and 4 other skilled weavers. At that time 50 to 60 looms
were engaged in producing coarse count cotton sari, dhoti, napkin, lungi, handkerchief etc.
There was a production centre established in Barpalli town to provide raw material to the
weavers and receive the final product for further marketing.

During the year 1954, ‘Sambalpuri Vastralaya’ got registered under the ‘Bihar and Orissa
Cooperative Societies Act’ by the State government with an objective to upscale the
activities of this outfit and provide support under prevalent government programmes so as
to promote the socio-economic conditions of the poor weavers and to provide regular
employment to them. The society then had a dyeing unit at Tora near Bargarh and used to
supply the dyed yarns to the production centre at Barpalli from where the raw material was
5
made available to the weavers. The weavers used to get Rs.10/ - to 12/- per month as
wages during that period.

During the year 1956, one voluntary organisation namely, ‘American Friends Service
Committee’ working in the area for community development, extended h and to help the
skilled weaver artisans of Barpalli area through exporting the fabrics to abroad like USA,
Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Some of the items like table clothes, handkerchiefs,
bed sheets of coarse counts were produced during the perio d. The organisation worked till
1966 for a period of over 10 years. Thus one sees that some diversification in products had
happened even during those times, which interestingly is not seen in the cluster presently.
This indicates towards the lack of continuity of the efforts for product diversification and
niche market linkages possibly due to the absence of a suitable local governance
mechanism in the cluster which could have carried on the activities of the society and
effectively utilised the resources created by it.

It is worthwhile to note that concomitantly the state government went on to create more
cooperative societies which were registered during this period as Janata Vastralaya in
1957, Utkal Vastralaya (late 1960s), Meher Arts & Crafts (1971 ), Ananta Narayan Tie &
Dye Weaver’s Co-operative Society (1977), Jalpali Weaver’s Co -operative Societies (1981)
etc. In order to sustain the cooperative societies created in the region, the state
government provided a lot of support in form of subsidies, margin money, rebate, market
development assistance and technical assistance through its Assistant Director Textiles
(ADT) offices and their Weaving Supervisors and Textile Inspectors during 1980 – 1990.
Further to provide marketing support to the increas ed production through the primary
weaver cooperative societies, the birth of the Apex Society of the state - “BOYANIKA” took
place during this period. ‘Sambalpuri Vastralaya’ also grew through this heightened support
to become one of the largest cooperative s in the country. During this period, these
institutions procured about 70 – 80% of the total production of the primary societies and
were able to provide regular payments leading to sustainable employment for the weaver
community.

This led to a furthe r increase in the production base within the state by inculcating more
men and women into weaving activity, even if being capable of producing only a fabric of
low skill and quality, by utilising the various scheme’s support for assistance in form of
looms, accessories, margin money, work shed, CFC, etc. Efforts were made to improve the
skills of the individual weavers as well as the societies through lots of training and some
exposure to outside states. However one sees, that during this period, while lot of capacity
building on production side was carried out, there was hardly any capacity building of the
local weavers or the local societies for marketing and actual market -led design and product
diversification, assuming that the large size Apex Cooperative Society BOYANIKA as well
as ‘Sambalpuri Vastralaya’ would be able to take care of this. But as one finds out, as
these institutions could not keep pace with the markets, developed in -house problems and
relied more and more on capital assistance, in form of Market Development Assistance
(MDA) and Marketing Incentive (MI), for achieving sales rather than their own capacity
building and thus could not grow in line with the market needs. Thus, the marketing efforts
6
of even these apex institutions were subsid ised to a great extent to make the system
survive.

During the early 1990s itself, the support from these institutions started dwindling due to
their own internal problems and thus the off take for marketing by these agencies reduced
to as low as 10% of the total production. Moreover, lot of payments got stuck from the
support institutions and thus this whole system, which was surviving solely on these
supports, collapsed. Thus the weavers had to switch over to the employment being
provided by the master weavers, national and state awardees etc. One also finds that the
product range which earlier had ikats produced both on cotton as well as silk, is now mainly
in cottons only and in that too in a range of yarn combinations of 2/60s to 2/120s as per the
need of the market. The collapse of the government support to the PWCS also led to the
upsurge in the private raw material suppliers who now dominate the market and control the
prices of the cotton yarn procured by the weavers. Exploitation by these traders by way of
initially providing raw material and then buying off the finished product at their own terms
and further providing raw material to the weavers has also begun in the cluster now.
Presently most of the independent weavers are buying the raw materia l from these traders
situated in Barpalli and Bargarh and selling their produce in the weekly haat at Balejuri
market, the details of which are further given in the report.

6. Structure of Cluster

6.1 Core Cluster Actors

The core stakeholders of the cluster are the weavers, master weavers and the National/
State Awardees. The evolution of the weavers into master weavers and then of some of
the master weavers into the awardees tells about the organics relations that these core
cluster actors enjoy amongst themselves. This further shows how the growth of the cluster
has provided opportunities to a weaver to develop into a fine craftsperson and also an
entrepreneur. The cluster’s growth is today primarily shared by the awardees and the
master weavers, who have moved out of the state to seek better markets for their fine
products. They have been able to also earn reputation for the traditional craft at various
levels and can be considered to be the saviours of the ikat tradition in the cluster. The
details of these cluster actors are as follows:

6.1.1 Master Weavers

Previously, this category of weavers was engaged in weaving only but today it undertakes
the overall responsibility of buying and supplying the raw material to the weavers, providing
design brief and wages to these weavers and then supplying the finished products to the
markets. Around 42 master weavers are actively involved in the cluster out of which 18
are located in Barpalli town, 19 are located in Jalpalli village, 4 are in Baghbadi village and
1 in Bandhpalli village. They have about 160 looms working in the cluster and also get
weaving done on contractual basis from about 766 weavers who have their own looms.
One master weaver of Bandhpalli village has a factory type set up on the way to Bandhpalli
7
village from Barpalli, where about 10 looms are installed and all the activities of tying and
dyeing as well as weaving are done in -house. This production is exclusively made for
distant markets and supply of uniforms to the colleges of the state. On an average, directly
or indirectly, each master weaver controls anything from 10 -15 looms to about 35-40
looms. Considering the usual investment of raw material in a typical ikat sari made in the
cluster and the optimum rotation of cash being in 3 months, it i s estimated that a smaller
master weaver with 10 – 15 looms puts in about Rs. 1.5 lakhs for his ‘micro enterprise’
while a comparatively bigger master weaver with 35 – 40 looms has to block about Rs. 4.5
lakhs as working capital.

6.1.2 National/State Awardees

Some of the master weavers have excelled in the craft in so much that their skills have
been recognised by the State/ Central government. As such the cluster has about 11
National/ State Awardees amongst the master weavers of the cluster. Out of the 18 master
weavers of Barpalli town, 10 have received the state/ national award while 1 master
weaver of Jalpalli has been bestowed with this honour. They are actively involved in
innovation of new designs and marketing activities and have been able to nurture ma rket
linkages outside the state due to their participations in the various fairs and exhibitions
sponsored by the State/ Central government and thus ensure links with upmarket
marketing channels. While five awardees of Barpalli still continue to act as mas ter weavers
for their weavers, the other five have moved up the ladder and now devote their energy
only in creating new designs, passing on these to other master weavers attached to them 9
and order a certain number of pieces of the design for onward market ing. The relationship
depicts a certain level of mutual trust where the design secrecy is maintained by the master
weavers for their awardees link and also tells about the relative lack of market links of the
master weavers who do not have the right consum er segment to be tapped for innovative
designs. They are mostly dependent on government supported exhibitions, especially from
October-November to February-March where they sell around 80 to 90% of their products.

6.1.3 Weavers
There are about 875 working l ooms and 2450 persons are involved in the weaving activity
spread in the four villages. The majority of the weavers belong to either Costa or Bhulia
community and have good skills. Each ‘Meher’10 weaver family earns about Rs. 2500/- per
month. The weavers belonging to the Harijan community are semi skilled and are mainly
engaged in weaving of coarse count ‘Janata’ cloth varieties. Their family wage earning
ranges from Rs. 1200/- to Rs. 1500/- per month. Since the entire family gets involved in the
activity, the preparatory processes like bleaching & dyeing, opening of yarn, winding and
tie & dye being done by the women and children of the family and the starching, warping,
weaving and exclusive tie & dye activities being done by the male members of the family,

9
Usually 1 awardee has linkages with 1 – 3 master weavers
10
‘Meher’ is a weaving community of Orissa mainly expert in tie & dye activity and comes under
OBC category.
8
this income level turns insufficient for overall growth of the household and just a
subsistence level of living is achieved through the weaving activity.

The weavers of Barpali cluster can be classified into the following types as per the broad
category of the weavers of the state mentioned in the preceding paragraphs:

• Type I: The Entrepreneur Weavers (EW) – weavers buying their own raw material,
producing the fabric and then selling the same at local haat, through traders etc. These
weavers, with a total population of about 2150 in the cluster, mainly operate at the local
haat. These constitute about 65% of the total weaver population of the cluster. Some of
them are organised in the form of Self Help Groups (SHGs) about 26 in number, and
some are also linked (on paper) with some cooperative society. Normally, this category
of weavers produce clothes like single ikat/ double ikat cotton saris which are
predominantly consumed in the local market.

• Type II: The Contractual Weavers (CW) – weavers attached to the master weavers
with a low risk and a seemingly low to moderate exploitatio n by the master weavers in
terms of low wages. The 42 master weavers of the cluster supervise and work with
about 300 weavers.

However, it is important to note that most of the type I and Type II weavers are those who
were at some point of time the type III weavers, i.e. attached to the cooperative societies
earlier. Although there are around 880 weavers enrolled as members of the 3 primary co -
operative societies, there are h ardly 50 weavers at present working under the co-operative
fold. As the cooperative societies have collapsed, the weavers have switched over to either
independent operations or got linked with the master weavers.

6.1.4 Tie & Dyers

There are about 650 tie and dyers, who prepare exclusively tie & dye design and sell them
to the weavers/master weavers and also in the market. The skill of the tie & dye is very
unique and owing to the fine count cotton yarn being used, the product from the cluster
possesses potential for suitable design and market facilitation inputs. In fact, these tie and
dyers are always in demand since the tied and dyed yarn from the cluster is also bought by
the weavers of other handloom weaving clusters, especially of the eastern and coast al
regions of Orissa where the skill of ‘ikat’ is not very pronounced. Depending upon the
complexity of the design, which is decided by the size of the motif, its repeat size, the
number of colours being required for the design and the fineness of the work , the tied and
dyed yarn set for usually a pallu of a sari or the border of a sari fetches about Rs. 20 - 50
(only border) to Rs. 70 – 300 (for pallu of the sari). Most of these persons are of ‘Bhulia
Meher’ caste and do not wish to pass on this skill to o ther people who usually find the
intricacies of this tying and dyeing technique quite difficult.

9
6.2 Other Cluster Actors
6.2.1 Raw material suppliers

The main raw materials required by the cluster are cotton, silk and tussar yarns. Cotton
yarn is obtained from traders/suppliers having linkages with the cotton mills of Tamil Nadu/
Maharashtra whereas mulberry/ tussar yarns are purchased from Karnataka and
Chhattisgarh respectively. This is usually through various promotional agencies like NHDC,
Sambalpuri Vastralaya, BOYANIKA etc. who supply gray, bleached or dyed yarn to the
weavers. Raw materials are also available in the weekly local market from the bulk
suppliers located in Bargarh and Barpalli There are 5 traders each from Barpalli as well as
Bargarh who regularly supply various types of yarns, dyestuffs and chemicals to master
weavers and weavers.

6.2.2 Equipment Suppliers

Mostly, pit looms of up to 52” – 56” inches are being used in the cluster in which Dobbys of
4 to 12 hooks are used for borders. Nearly 7 0 – 80% of the looms of the cluster have a
dobby attachment. Although there is no loom supplier in the cluster, there are certain
weavers who purchase raw wood from the market and with the help of the local carpenters
they prepare and install the loom. However, there are 5 accessories supplier available in
the cluster. Besides, accessories are also available in the local weekly market.

6.2.3 Traders

There are about 20 traders who take care of marketing of Barpalli handloom fabrics. Out of
these 20, about 15 traders procure fabrics directly from weavers in addition to procurement
from the master weavers. Some of these traders have retail outlets in Barpalli town. In
addition to selling local handloom fabrics, these traders also sell the handlooms of other
states like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. About 5 -6 traders have
business contacts in other cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai with the wholesalers.

7. Production Process

T
he various steps involved in the production of the handloom fabrics in Barpalli cluster are
given in Annexure 3. Some of the important processes are discussed below.

7.1 Preparation of yarn

The raw material i.e. cotton and tussar/mulberry yarn is procured in hank form by the
weavers / master weavers from the local yarn dealers / Sambalpuri Vastralaya / local
market who in turn get the silk from Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Cotton from
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra. The cotton yarns procured are mainly pre -dyed and usually of
2/120s, 2/100s, 2/80s and the silk filaments ar e grey in nature and have fineness of 20 -22
denier. In the case of tussar yarn, sometimes the weavers purchase tussar cocoons from
outside market like Chhattisgarh, Raipur and spin tussar yarn from the cocoon. The gray
yarn requires further processing befo re being put on the loom for weaving.

10
7.2 Bleaching & Dyeing
Both the cotton and silk threads are bleached and dyed by the weavers themselves. The
maximum quantity of threads dyed is for two to four saris only. VAT and Naphthol -Fast
Base dyes are used fo r dyeing cotton hank yarns where as Acid dyes are used for dyeing
silk filaments. The process sequences of cotton and silk yarns used by the weavers are
given below:

• Cotton:

1. Soaking of yarns over night in a caustic soda and soap solution

2. Washing of yarns with canal water
3. Whitening of yarns using surf/ ‘Tinopal’
4. Washing of yarns
5. Dyeing of yarns using VAT and naphthol - base separately.

• Silk:

1. Soaking of gray silk with water for over night

2. Degumming of silk using soap and soda ash and boil for 30 minutes
3. Washing of filaments using tap water
4. Dyeing of filaments using Acid dyes at about 80 oC for around 30 minutes.
The entire process is done by the weavers at their homes using stoves, improper uten sils
and crude make-shift kind of gadgets. The process parameters like temperature, time,
quantity of chemicals to be taken etc. are therefore not within the control of the weavers.
As a result, poor quality of dyeing and thus poor quality fabrics is a fea ture of the cluster.

7.3 Warping

The preparation of yarns for separation, grouping and sub grouping is known as warping.
Here, warping is done by peg warping method using wooden pegs. These wooden pegs
are placed along the whole length of the yarn so tha t a continuously criss-crossed set of
two yarns may be obtained for the weaving process which helps in finding out the broken
yarn on the loom during the course of weaving.

11
 Production Process
Product – Single Ikat Sambalpuri Cotton Sari
Procurement of Raw material
(2/120s Grey Cotton Yarn, Dyes & Chemicals)

Opening of Bundle & Rewinding /Making Chains

Soaking of Hank with Water for Overnight

Squeezing of yarn and opening

Warp Bleaching and Drying Weft

Dyeing of Warp Weft

(Anchal Tie & Dyeing) Wheel Winding

Wheel Winding Anchal Weaving

Peg Warping
Dobby
Body Weaving Pirn Winding
Attachment
Peg Warping
Setting of
Opening of Tie & Dye Frame
Preparation of Tied Yarn
Sizing
Healed(option)
Tying as per
Dyeing & Drying Design
Winding/Fitting
Loom Setting
Of Warp with Reed

Production Process
Product – Cotton/Silk Bafta Sari with Phada Kumbha Design

Procurement of Raw materials Weft (Tassar/Silk)

Warp (Cotton) 2/120s Grey mercerised Cotton Yarn

Opening of Bundle Opening of Bundle

Weft (Anchal Tie & Dye)
& Rewinding & Rewinding

Anchal Weaving
Soaking of Hank with Soaking of hank with
Water for Overnight Water for overnight
Body Weaving
Squuezing of yarn
& Opening Degumming,
Dobby Attachment
Washing & Drying

Bleaching & Drying

Loom Setting
Dyeing & Drying
Bobbin Winding
Fitting of Warp with Reed

Wheel Winding
Peg Warping
7.4 Tie & Dyeing Stick Warping

Body & Anchal Dyeing Sizing Pirn Winding

12
The yarn in the warp and/or weft is dyed i n different colours at different places by tying the
place tightly by thread, thick leaf or rubber strip where no dyeing is required and then
dipping the yarn in dye
bath. Thus the untied portion of the yarn gets dyed while the tied portion remains un -dyed.
The process may be repeated by tying the dyeing the portions and opening full or part of
the tied portion as required and then dyeing the yarn, bringing in another colour on the yarn
at places wherever required as per the design.

7.5 Bobbin Winding

After dyeing, the yarn is loosened and wound

on a bobbin for preparation of warping, sizing
and pirn winding. This is achieved using small
bobbin winding machines made out of a
simple pulley mechanism where the dyed yarn
gets transferred onto a swift and fro m which it
is woven onto bobbins using a simple
’charkha’.
Pirn winding is the process of transferring the
yarns from the hanks into spools of the
shuttles used in the weft while weaving. Pirn winding is achieved by using a small swift
consisting of a rotary wheel attached to a harness of convey or belt giving a similar rotary
motion to the spool mounted at the other end. Rotation of the wheel by hands results in the
rotation of the spool and thereby the thread is wound on small spindles.

Weaving of Double Ikat dress material 7.6 Sizing

Sizing is a process where starch based
chemicals is coated on the warp threads
for imparting strength, surface glaze and
stiffness so that it can withstand the yarn
breakage during the course of weaving
and also maintain the stiffness
necessary for even weavi ng and a
proper look of the sari once the weaving
is complete. Sizing is done only for cotton yarn .The process involves painstakingly
brushing of the yarns stretched along a stand using the sizing paste and special brushes
for this activity. The sizing pa stes are
basically a thin paste of rice (Maandi) or a
mixture of maida and rice paste.

7.7 Preparation of Loom

Preparation of the loom for weaving is
done by the skilled weavers and the
process involves the following activities:

13
7.7.1 Drafting
Dobby used in the cluster
The process of passing the warp yarn through the
heald of the loom as per the design to be woven is
known as drafting. This helps in the future process of
weaving when locating a broken yarn becomes easy
due to the heald and also helps in the designing
processes.

7.7.2 Filling of Reed

In this process, warp is passed through the reed and

the heralds. The warp threads are then joined to the
old warp threads with a deft twist of hand.

7.7.3 Setting up of Dobby

Prior to start of the weaving process, the weaver sets the design of the border and the
pallu. The respective ends of the design are tied to an attachment called Dobby. This
process takes around 2 to 3 hours or more depending on the nature of the design. The
effects are produced with the help of weft threads.

7.8 Weaving
Weaving of Single Ikat Sari

The weaving is performed by the skilled weavers

of the family. The looms being used are mainly
traditional pit looms with throw / fly shuttle
technique.

8. Value Chain Analysis

V
alue chain analysis of two different products -
Single Ikat Sambalpuri Cotton Sari and Cotton x
Silk ‘Bafta’ sari with ‘Phada Kumbha’ design has
been carried out. Analysis of the two value chains
(refer figure 1 and 2) throw light on the following
facts:

• Raw material accounts for 28.6% in single Ikat

Sambalpuri sari and 47.2% in Cotton / Silk
‘Bafta’ sari with respect to Cost Price
• For single Ikat Sambalpuri sari, app 18% of value (with respect to cost price) is added in
tying and dying stage
• Value addition is mainly at the weaving stage (47.2% both in Single Ikat Sambalpuri Sari
and 47.1% in Cotton / Silk ‘Bafta’ Sari) with respect to cost price
14
 • Dyeing & Sizing provide nearly 5.5% value to the cost of the sari.
• Marketing mark ups add up to 10% and 22% respectively on the cost price of sari.

Figure 1: Value Chain of Sngle Ikat Sambalpuri Cotton Sari

120

100
Incremental value added (%)

80

60

40

20

0
Raw material Cost After Dyeing & Sizing After Tying & Dyeing After Weaving= Cost Price MW/ PWCS Margin
Value addition stages

Figure 2: Value Chain of Cotton x Silk bafta Sari

120

100
Incremental value added (%)

80

60

40

20

0
Raw material Costs After Dyeing & Sizing After Weaving= Cost Price MW/ PWCS Margin
Value addition stages

15
 120
Figure 3: Value Chain of Double Ikat Sambalpuri Cotton Sari

100

80
Incremental value added (%)

60

40

20

0
Raw material Cost After Dyeing & Sizing After Tying & Dyeing After Weaving= Cost Price MW/ PWCS Margin
Value addition stages

Figure 4: Value Chain of Sambalpuri Cotton Dress Material

120

100

80
Incremental value added (%)

60

40

20

0
Raw material Cost After Dyeing & Sizing After Tying & Dyeing After Weaving= Cost Price MW/ PWCS Margin
Value addition stages

16
 9. Analysis of Business Operations

T
he following paragraphs would analyze the cluster’s business operations with a view to
identify issues which need to be sorted out in order to optimise the entire process.

9.1 Raw Material Procurement

Spinning mills have closed down in Orissa since l ong and as such cotton yarn is procured
through a variety of intermediaries, both public as well as private, from the mills of Tamil
Nadu/ Maharashtra. While the public intermediaries are NHDC 11, Sambalpuri Vastralaya
and BOYANIKA, the private intermediaries are a chain of commission agents and traders
from the mills to the bleaching and dyeing companies to the bulk traders located within the
state and even in Bargarh and Barpalli. This chain of intermediaries results into
comparatively higher rates and an i nconsistent supply. Some of these bulk traders located
within Bargarh and Barpalli also have in -house dyeing facilities and thus hey tend to sell
dyed as well as bleached/ unbleached yarn in the weekly local haat at Balejuri.

Dependence for silk yarns is on Karnataka, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh etc. However
since the requirement of silk in the cluster is presently low, the procurement procedure for
silk yarn does not have any major issues. For supplies of dyes, there are private traders
located within Bargarh and even in the small villages of the cluster, who not only supply the
dye, but also provide the recipe of dyeing the yarn. These dyes are sold and bought in
loose and thus the quality of the dyestuff and its actual price are questionable. Possible
use of toxic dyestuffs/ chemicals, banned in the Western countries, may limit the scope for
exports from the cluster.
The prevailing price of various types of yarns and dyestuffs in the cluster are as under:

Comparison of Price list of Yarn

Yarn Quality Price during Price during
February’ 2006 (Rs. November’ 2006
Per Bundle) (Rs. Per kg.)
2/120s Grey Mercerised
( combed)
♦ Ramlingam 2250 - 2300 1900-1950
♦ Nagmal 2100 - 2150 1750-1800
2/100s Grey Mercerised (Combed)
♦ Ramlingam 1700 - 1750 1450-1500
♦ Nagmal 1600 - 1650 1400-1450
2/80s Grey Mercerised
♦ Kasi Biswanath 1200 - 1250 950-1000
♦ Nagmal 1150 -1200 900-950
Dyestuffs Rs. / kg.
• VAT Brown 4000– 4200/- marginal change
• Other VAT Colour 1500 – 2000/- -do-
• Naphthol–Fast base 300 -350/- -do-

11
National Handloom Development Corporation, an autonomous institution of Govt. of India for supporting
handloom sector across the country.
17
The prices of the yarns have recentl y shot up very high and thus the weavers have been
facing a lot of problems in order to cope with the higher procurement prices without any
commensurate rise in the sale prices.

9.2 Production Process

The overall production process adopted in the cluster i s no different from the other
handloom clusters in general. However, the weavers have customised certain processes
and techniques for their specific needs. The sequence of the activities is as follows:

9.2.1 Warping

Peg warping is carried out in

the house of weavers in
Barpali cluster. The warp is
prepared for only 2 – 4 saris
at a time and this
necessitates the setting up of
loom at short intervals. The
present system of putting the
warp on the tie & dye frames
necessitates that not too
many yarns are put on the
same at a time since this
would adversely affect the
tying and dyeing quality
since too many yarns would then be required to be tied and dyed and thus the danger of
the penetration of the dye in the undesired portions cannot be ruled out. However, this
seems to be more of a paradigm related issue rather than a technical one since warping of
much greater lengths can be observed in the other clusters within Orissa. Yet again there
the motifs are not as fine as in Barpali. Thus there are possibilities to be explored in
improvising the tying & dyeing process to maintain its finesse and yet increase productivity.

9.2.2 Sizing

Sizing is carried out in open air in the cluster and the process is weather dependent. Thus,
during the rainy season, the sizing activi ty gets hampered and this affects the overall
productivity. Due to non-availability of sufficient open space, sizing is carried out by the
weavers on rotation basis. But, during the festive occasion this space is again not available
as a result weavers face lot of problems.

Sizing of the yarns with rice paste and brushes made of coniferous leaves provides a very
good finish to the yarn but the process is cumbersome, slow and weather dependent since
too much high a temperature or too much high level of humi dity lends a very hard/ soft feel
respectively to the yarns and thus the quality of weaving becomes non -uniform for fabric

18
woven in different seasons. Moreover, the use of rice paste slightly alters the shade of the
dyed yarn and also poses issues while packing of the fabric for long distances (foul smell
etc.). However, for the domestic market, which prefers stiff and highly starched saris, the
process is highly appropriate.

9.2.3 Dyeing
Dyeing is done by the weavers after tying the
yarns as per the design requirements. VAT
Naphthol and Sulphur dyes are used on cotton
and acid dyes are used on silk by the weavers
in the cluster. The warped yarns tied onto a
frame are tied using threads/ rubber strips/
plastic wires etc. and then the dyer rubs each
yarn bundle tied onto the frame by using
brushes and dips the yarns in the dye bath till the desired shade and dispersion of the dye
has not taken place. This process is so tedious and based so much on trial and error that
proper matching of shades for large volu mes of fabrics cannot be achieved. Further, a
completely foolproof and proper dyeing process cannot be also adopted due to the
limitation of the yarns being tied and the care
that this tying should not open or else the
design may get distorted due to the
penetration of the dye in un -desired portions.
Thus the dyeing has the problems of colour
matching, less than optimum fastness, and
the hands of the dyers being subjected to the
harmful dyes and chemicals for a long
duration. Washing of the yarn after scour ing/
bleaching process is carried out at the canal. This leads to weakening of the yarns since
the surface of the yarn becomes rough / dull, especially during rainy season due to the
murky water. The harsh way of treating the yarn (beating on a stone and w ith wooden bats
etc) also adds to weakening of yarn. Many a times, in order to obtain black shades on the
body of the fabrics, the threads are first dyed with green colour using VAT dyes so that the
untied portions become green shade and then the tying is opened. This is followed by
dyeing of the entire threads with naphthol -base dyes using red colour so that the green
portions become black and the white (tied) portions become red shade. As a result, the
designs get red colour and body gets black colour. T hus, it can be invariably seen that the
black colour in an Ikat fabric is accompanied with red and green and thus typical
combination gets repeated without any intentional design or colour need for such a
combination. Thus the colour combinations remain ve ry typically traditional and limited in
their own way.

9.2.4 Weaving
The weaving is done using traditional pit looms with throw/ fly shuttle technique mostly
whereas the use of frame looms is limited due to the lack of sufficient space in the weaver

19
households. The productivity of these pit looms is very low. Further, the pit looms play
havoc on the back of the weaver leading to fatigue and thus again low productivity. Even if
the pedals of the looms can be changed, a considerable improvement in the ease of t he
weaver can be achieved. The use of dobby limits the size of the motifs and also the
number of patterns which can be created. The use of jacquard can help the weavers make
more varieties of designs on the saris along with the Ikat patterns.

9.2.5 Design & Product range

The design and product range in the cluster is quite limited. Saris and ladies dress material
predominate. The limited design and product ranges could be due to the following reasons:

• The lack of exposure of the weavers to new concepts and ideas and market
requirements

• Lack of any demand for new designs from the traditional marketing channels (Sambalpuri
Vastralaya & BOYANIKA), who have largely pushed their products to the Oriya clientele.

• Limitation of the ikat technique itself - Ikat, being a tie & dye technique, provides mainly
sharp contrasts (dark base with the design/ motif emanating from the undyed portion)
and thus makes the use of pastel shades, which are nowadays in high demand, difficult
and expensive to achieve.

In its finest form, an Ikat fabric looks quite similar to a printed fabric and thus the perception
of the high amount of skill and intensive labour involved does not get appreciated by the
buyer. The buyer usually tends to ascribe low value to the cotton fabric since i t is not
considered to be fit for ceremonial occasion in India. Many designers feel that the same
amount of Ikat work done on a silk fabric provides better returns than on a cotton fabric.
Additionally if more textural effects can be produced on the fabric to give it the real
handmade feel, it would increase the consumer perception and is likely to fetch better
prices in the market.

The weavers aim at so much a perfection in maintaining the sanctity of the design that
during weaving they adjust the weft yarn on either side of the width of the fabric. This leads
to unwanted small extra yarn wastages at the back side of the fabric. Though a
connoisseur of handlooms is able to appreciate this, the dame looks ugly in furnishings,
since the width is much larger and the weft yarns become quite heavy.

9.2.6 Credit

The availability of cash credit limit to PWCS from NABARD through Sambalpur District
Central Co-operative Bank/ Orissa State Co-operative Bank is very poor. This owes to the
fact that most of the cooperative societies have huge amounts outstanding against them in
terms of principal as well as interest. As on 31 st March, 2005, three PWCS of the cluster
have loan outstanding to the tune of Rs. 1.05 Crores. Since most of the weavers were
20
invariably a part of these cooperative societies, they are individually also not able to reap
the benefit from the provision of Credit cards under ‘Swarojgari Credit Card’ Scheme being
provided by the public sector banks. The poor financial condition of the PWCS has lent the
entire handloom sector as unviable for investments by most of the banks. It is important to
not that the newly created SHGs of women weavers in some of the villages of the cluster
have been able to receive some loans from the same banks under the other sche mes such
as SGSY etc. The Directorate of Textiles & Handloom, Govt. of Orissa has initiated a
revival package of One Time Settlement (OTS) for the PWCS.

9.2.7 Credit analysis of the cluster

The total credit requirement of the cluster can be assessed on the basis of the
present product range and the looms engaged in the activity and their raw material
and wage requirements.

Table – 2: Number of looms engaged in different production

Product Range No. of looms engaged

Dress Material
• Kurta 50
• Salwar 20
• Dupattas 30
Saris
• Silk 25
• Cotton -single ikat 450
• Cotton –double ikat 300

A. Dress Materials

1. Kurta

In 5 days 11 metres of kurta fabric costing to Rs. 973/- is produced in 1 loom.

Presuming that the weavers are working 10 months in a year (list of holidays
enclosed at Annexure 6), 660 metre of kurta fabric of Rs. 58,380/- are produced in
a year on 1 loom.

Therefore, 50 looms presumably produce 33,000 metre of kurta fabric worth Rs.
29.19 lakhs.

2. Salwar

In 2 days 10 metre of Salwar costing to Rs. 345/- is produced in 1 loom. Thus, 1500
metres of Salwar worth Rs. 51,750/- can be produced in a year in 1 loom.

Therefore, 20 looms will produce 30,000 metre of Salwar worth Rs. 10.35 lakhs.

3. Dupattas

In 3 days 10 metre of dupattas costing to Rs. 455/- is produced in 1 loom. Thus,

1000 metre of dupattas worth Rs. 45,000/- can be produced in a year in 1 loom.
21
Therefore, 30 looms will produce 30,000 metre of dupattas worth Rs. 13.65 lakhs.

Hence, 100 looms producing dress materials, about 93,000 metres of cloth
will be produced whose cost price is Rs. 53.19 lakhs.

B. Sari

1. Silk Sari

In 5 days 1 sari costing to Rs. 1050/- is produced in 1 loom. Thus, 60 saris worth
Rs. 63,000/- can be produced in a year in 1 loom.

Therefore, 25 looms will produce 1500 pieces of saris worth Rs. 15.75 lakhs in a
year.

2. Cotton-single ikat sari

In 8 days 2 saris worth Rs. 1345/- is produced in 1 loom. Thus, 70 saris worth Rs.
47,100/- can be produced in a year in 1 loom.

Therefore, 450 looms will produce 31,500 pieces of saris worth Rs. 211.95 lakhs in
a year.

3. Cotton-double ikat sari

In 10 days 2 saris worth Rs. 1600/- is produced in 1 loom. Thus, 60 saris worth Rs.
48,000/- can be produced in a year in 1 loom.

Therefore, 300 looms will produce 18,000 pieces of saris worth Rs. 144.00 lakhs in
a year

Hence, the annual production of about 51,000 pieces of saris in a year would
have a cost price of Rs. 371.70 lakhs.

Therefore, in the cluster 875 working looms produce 93000 metre of dress
material and 51,000 pieces of saris costing to Rs. 4.25 crore.

Assuming that within 4 months the stocks are sold, the total credit need is
12.75 crore.

The summary of the production is given in the following table.

Product No. of Total annual Value Credit Need per

Variety looms production Annum
engaged
Kurta 50 33,000 metre Rs. 29.19 lakhs Rs. 87.57 lakhs
Salwar 20 30,000 metre Rs. 10.35 lakhs Rs. 31.05 lakhs
Dopattas 30 30,000 metre Rs. 13.65 lakhs Rs. 40.95 lakhs
Silk sari 25 1500 pieces Rs. 15.75 lakhs Rs. 47.25 lakhs
Cotton- 450 31,500 pieces Rs. 211.95 lakhs Rs. 635.85 lakhs
22
single
ikat sari
Cotton – 300 18,000 pieces Rs. 144.00 lakhs Rs. 432.00 lakhs
double
ikat sari
TOTAL Rs. 425.00 lakhs Rs. 1275.00 lakh

9.2.8 Marketing

The cluster was traditionally dependent on the government channels and the apex
cooperative societies such as BOYANIKA and Sambalpuri Vastralaya for the marketing of
its products. However, slowly and slowly some master weavers and the awardees were
able to develop contacts with the outside markets and thus started supplying in a small way
to these customers. Nevertheless, the major share of the sales was within Orissa even by
these master weavers. At the same time, the local markets witnessed the entry of cheaper
printed ikat-like fabrics and also cheaper ikat hand -woven fabrics from Andhra Pradesh,
though definitely of lesser design finesse. This led to a shift in the market preference for
cheaper alternatives and thus instead of high value silk based Ikat fabrics, the production
and marketing of cotton based Ikat fabrics gained momentum.

Presently, the cluster is marketing its products predominantly through the local weekly haat
and through small traders/ local shops wherein nearly 80% of the production of the cluster
is sold. The remaining 15 to 20% of the stocks are sold by the Master weavers, National
Awardees, in various metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata etc. and a very small portion
of production moves through BOYANIKA/ Sambalpuri Vastralaya. Since credit sale is not
allowed to the PWCS by the controlling officers of Directorate of Textiles & Handlooms, the
societies are not able to reach out to the other markets which usually demand products on
a consignment basis.

The improper systems of timely production, quality consistency and lack of any sort of
marketing tools has greatly limited the possibility of the institutional buying arrangements
from established retail chains/ niche stores etc.

10. Support Institutions

T
he following support institutions are relevant and need to be considered for linkages while
planning activities for the cluster:

10.1 Textiles & Handloom Department, Government of Orissa

The Department of Textiles & Handlooms of the State government is the key support
institution for the cluster and it has been institutional in the growth of the cluster. The
department has a local office for the district headed by an Assistant Director of Textiles and
also a divisional office for the western division headed by a Joint Director of Textiles at
Bargarh. The Weaving Supervisors and the Textile Inspectors of these offices provide

23
regular support to the PWCS to solve their technical as well as other problems. The various
developmental schemes of the DC (Handlooms) office are also administered by these
offices.

10.2 Krutartha Acharya Centre for Co-operative Management, Bargarh

This is an institute for providing training to the management, employees, and members of
the cooperative societies and the staff of the Directorate of Textiles & handlooms and other
such organisations on the principles of cooperation, management of cooperatives, their
administration, legal procedures, rules & regulations for production, profit sharing, audit
and other administrative issues. The institute has been conducting training programmes for
the officials of the state government on these issues. The institute is keen on promoting the
new Self Help Cooperative Act and has also acted as a resource person for such
orientation programmes for the new act. Thus the institute and its faculty can be effectively
used for providing guidance to not only the weavers but also the officials of the state
government about the new Self Help Cooperative Act.

10.3 Weavers’ Service Centre, Bhubaneshwar

The Weavers Service Centre (WSC), the state representative of the office of DC
(Handlooms) Government of India, is based at Bhubaneshwar and has the jurisdiction over
the entire state. WSC has carried out a number of training programmes on design,
technology in the cluster in the past. The WSC also provides marketing support to
handloom weavers through the various marketing events across the country in which the
state’s participation is coordinated by WSC. The WSC also provides registration of the
weavers so that they become eligible for the various support schemes of the DC
(Handloom) office, especially the marketing activities. Presently it does not have any
specific activities planned for the cluster at present but can be certainly approached for
support in these areas for the cluster.

10.4 Textiles Committee, Bhubaneshwar

Textiles Committee, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Textiles, has its offices in
Bhubaneshwar and a lot of resources especially for quality assurance and other such
measures. It has been working on a cluster development programme in other parts of the
state and can provide technical support, especially in the areas of productivity, quality
systems, testing of dyes and chemicals and also help in providing export linkages through
its ongoing programmes with the handloom exporters of the other parts of the country. It i s
keen on taking up cluster development activities in the state. Textiles Committee is
presently also working on a system for certifying the hand -woven fabrics of the country and
if this works out well, then the threat of power looms for most of the handlo om fabrics of the
country can be greatly minimised.

24
10.5 Institute of Textile Technology, Choudwar, Cuttack

The state has a Textile Technology Institute at Choudwar, which conducts diploma as well
as degree courses for Textile technology and has state of the art facilities for testing,
calibration, CAD CAM designing etc. Presently the institute’s services are hardly available
to the cluster but the probable areas where the institute can be of great value to the cluster
actors are:

• Addressing the issues of productivity in the Ikat tying and dyeing technique
• Experimentation on various techniques for possibly getting lighter shades in the base of
the fabrics in Ikat patterns, etc.
• Standardisation of dyeing process, preparation of new shade cards etc.

The institute can be used for conducting training programmes for the weavers in the
cluster.

10.6 Sambalpur District Central Cooperative Bank, Bargarh

This bank has been traditionally providing loans to the various cooperative societies and
the SHGs of weavers. However, due to the poor condition of the cooperatives and lack of
any sustained common business activities by most of the SHGs, the bank has not shown
any keen interest in financing the same. In fact, during the course of interaction the bank
has not shown any inclination for continuing any activity with the handloom sector as such.

10.7 State Bank of India, Barpalli

The Barpalli branch of State Bank of India has recently show interest in the cluster by
providing loans to the SHGs of the various villages of t he cluster as a part of the various
ongoing schemes. This has been at the behest of the intervening institutions such as the
Women & Child Development department, local DRDA office etc. hence the bank ca be a
key alley in the initiatives for the cluster. H owever, it is the same bank which has no
interest in the cooperative societies of the cluster.

10.8 Andhra Bank, Sarandapali

Andhra Bank also has its branch in Barpalli and it has started providing loans to the SHGs
of the various villages of the cluster. Thu s this is going to be one of the banks to be linked
with the cluster more proactively while planning the interventions.

10.9 Bolangir Anchalik Gramya Bank, Barpalli

This bank has its operations in some of the villages but it has not initiated any major
activities for the weavers ad thus it needs to be reoriented and taken into confidence for
more activities in the cluster.

10.10 KAS Foundation, Sambalpur

KAS foundation is a Chennai based micro finance organisation which provides micro
finance services to the grou ps or individuals by charging a flat interest rate of 10.75% to

25
12.5% per annum. The organisation has door to door service towards finance related
issues. However, as on date, its involvement in the cluster is not to be seen.

10.11 Regulated Marketing Committee (RMC), Bargarh

Behera market is run by the Regulated Marketing Committee (RMC) of Bargarh district.
The committee comprises of 15 elected members from traders, agriculture department,
municipalities, Gram Panchayat and two other nominated members from Govt. of Orissa.
The District Sub-
collector is the
Chairman of the
committee. The RMC
had purchased
approximately 5.5 acres
of Govt. land in Behera
Gram Panchayat near
Balijuri bus stand during
the year 1990 with an
objective to set up a
daily market for the
traders/ farmers of the
district for better market
A weaver at the Handloom Haa t, linkages. Subsequently,
during the year 2002,
after receiving a lot of complaints from the traders/ weavers on security grounds, the
weekly handloom market, which used to be organised at Bargarh town on every Friday,
was shifted to Behera market by the RMC. The market opens on every Friday for
handlooms, beginning at 4 A.M. and continues up to 11 A.M. It is estimated that this hat
provides a business turnover of about Rs. 1.5 to 2 crores. It provides a c ommon place for
all the stakeholders from the nearby villages and people from as far as other 10 districts of
Orissa, other states such as M.P, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar etc. also come to the haat. The
haat also has the raw material suppliers, loom parts sup pliers etc.

The market is thronged by at least 30 – 40 wholesale buyers every Friday who come from
various parts of the state as well as other states such as Chattisgarh etc. These traders
have their own retail outlets in their cities and then also have some linkages with other bulk
buyers located in even more distant cities such as Kochi, Vizag etc. However, the major
sale even by these traders is in and around Orissa only. These traders procure from about
30 saris to 500 saris at a time and they genera lly prefer 10 – 15 saris of the same colour
and design. The designs as revealed by them have not changed much since 15 years but
the same is not felt as a major issue by them since they can still sell these saris. The
average margin on a sari is about Rs. 5 – 6 while the transaction costs are of about Rs. 2
per sari. One of the big traders felt that if the weavers could provide 100 – 200 pieces at a
time at their place itself then they may not like to come to the market since it involves a
very high opportunity costs. In fact for the same reason one trader from Chattisgarh comes
26
 only once in 3 weeks to buy in bulk and then stock the same for regular consumers. These
traders could not find any major issues as far as quality of dyeing or any other such
parameters.

Interestingly a large number of small traders of Bandhpalli and other villages of the cluster
were also found in the market, who were buying the saris from the weavers and stocking
them. This indicates that either they have a local market or they in turn supply to the
traders of other neighbouring states. The average purchase by these traders is of about 30
– 100 saris per week. It was estimated that each weaver was sitting with about 20 saris for
selling in the haat. Considering that a weaver cannot make more than 2 saris per week,
any of the following situations can be possible:
• The weaver is not able to sell all the saris at every weekly haat and thus brings his old
stock along with the newly woven pieces
• The weaver brings in products of not only h is own loom but of other looms as well.
• The weaver does not come every week to the haat and comes only when sufficient
number of pieces is ready for sales.

However, it is important to note here that the weavers were found to be sitting with as little
as 5 – 6 pieces to as many as 250 pieces individually in the haat.

10.12 NGOs
Three registered NGOs are operating in and around Barpalli and have some linkages with
the cluster. One of them namely, Bharat Integrated Social Welfare Agency (BISWA) based
at Sambalpur had formed one SHG at Barpalli during the year 2003. The NGO financed
Rs.20000/- to the group by charging interest @ Rs. 18% per annum. All the financial
transactions were made at Sambalpur only. Due to perceived higher interest rate and
communication problem, the group withdrew from the NGO and renamed itself as
Gangadhar Meher Swayang Sahayak Gosthi. Presently, the group is availing financial
assistances through State Bank of India, Barpalli with interest @ Rs. 8.5% per annum only.
One local NGO namely, Yuva Jyoti Sangh is also located at Barpalli and is involved in
various social activities like awareness campaign on social issues, health and hygiene
issues. However, it has not done any work with the weavers of the cluster. Another
Sambalpur based NGO – Manav Adhikar Seva Sadan (MASS), is working in Bhedan block
of Bargarh district with the weavers and has come out with a brochure on the handloom
products of Bhedan area. The NGO has done some REDP programmes with the help of
NABARD for other handicra ft artisans and can be effectively deployed for similar initiatives
in the cluster.

11. Social Capital

C luster development places a lot of emphasis on the effective use of social capital to derive
the benefits of the other forms of capitals for the stakeholde rs on a sustainable basis. Thus
the level of social capital of cluster is an important dimension to be measured during the
course of diagnosis. The social capital of a cluster can be assessed on the basis of the
presence of mechanisms of common business or other kinds of cooperation for business
27
amongst the stakeholders. Hence an overview of the cooperative societies, SHGs etc. is
being attempted in the following paragraphs.

11.1 Self Help Groups (SHGs)

The cluster has some basic elements of cooperation and th is is evident from the existence
of the SHGs in the villages of almost all the Gram Panchayats of the block. There are 24
weaver SHGs present in the cluster out of which 18 are of only women. The details of
these SHGs, their present bank linkages and their grading by NABARD are being given at
the table no.1. These SHGs have been created by a number of institutions, mainly DRDA
and Women & Child Development. Some of the SHGs have been availing loans from the
banks for buying raw material but besides this the group approach to any other activities is
not visible in the cluster. The capacity of the weavers to invest in their own raw material
and produce and sell directly in the market also tells about their entrepreneurial capacity as
also their willingness to work on their own.

11.2 Local Clubs

There are 21 local clubs existing in the cluster. The clubs have been mainly floated by the
various political parties to woo their voters . Most of them do not have exclusive
membership of weavers but some of them are ha ving weavers as predominant members.
A list of these local clubs and their present activities is being given at Annexure 7. One of
the most prominent clubs is being explained in detail here.

§ Maa Samaleswari Pathagar, Bandhpalli

One formal club namely, Maa Samaleswari Pathagar, has been formed by the 62 weavers
of Bandhpali village. Each weaver has contributed Rs. 1000/ - as membership fees. The
objective of this committee is primarily to provide loans to the needy weavers of the village
on a monthly rate of interest. Besides, it also procures fabrics from the weavers/ local
market at lower rate during the off -season and sells them at higher rate during the peak
season. The committee is so strong that the local bank seeks advice of the committee
before it finances any weaver. Recently, the committee has constructed a small hall by
receiving Rs. 80,000/- from the local MLA funds and collecting Rs. 20,000/ - from its own
members. The hall is used for adult education classes and the meetings of the groups etc.
during initial discussions in the diagnostic phase the club have shown keenness to upscale
its activities.

11.3 Sambalpuri Vastralaya, Bargarh

Sambalpuri Vastralaya is one of the largest cooperative societies in Orissa and perhaps
even in India. One PWCS of the cluster namely, Ananta Narayan Tie & Dye Co -operative
Society having 121 number of members is affiliated to Sambalpuri Vastralaya. Sambalpuri
Vastralaya provides raw materials, designs and wages to the society and gives 3%
commission after getting the tie and dyed yarns from the society. Besides, it also has two
production centres in the cluster where 45 looms are regularly working for producing

28
coarse varieties of products such as napkins, lungis, dhotis etc. It also acts as a master
weaver for about 50 weavers of Bandhpalli and Baghbadi villages. It has 60 outlets within
and outside the state. It has an established office with the Managing Director being an
Assistant Director of the Directorate of Textiles & Handlooms deputed to administer the
society. Sambalpuri Vastralaya has been one of the main marketers for the cluster but now
it is facing a financial crisis.

11.4 Primary Weaver’s Co-operative Societies

There are four no. of primary co -operative societies having around 1000 no. of weavers as
members. But actually about 50 members are regularly working in the societ ies. In order to
meet the working capital requirement for production and marketing activities, the PWCS
receive cash credit loan from district co -operative central bank. The PWCS procure raw
materials either from National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) or from the
private traders and give it to the members for weaving. Members are paid for their wages
and the co-operative sells the products to the Apex WCS i.e. BOYANIKA and /or t o the
private traders.

11.4.1 Major Issues of PWCS

11.4.1.1 Marketing
Marketing continues to be the biggest problem of weaver’s co -operative societies in the
cluster. Handloom production appears to be not market oriented. Absence of new designs,
poor colour combination, lack of understanding of changing markets, inefficient marketing
capability, absence of market linkages outside the cluster are some of the prime factors
that need to be addressed for the growth of business activities of the PWCS. Besides,
Apex WCS i.e. Boyanika which is supposed to provide marketing support to the PWCS is
neither providing any backward linkages in terms of providing new designs, colour
combination as per market demand nor providing forward linkages through lifting of stocks
with regular payment of cloth dues. As a result, the WCS are unable to provide raw
materials, wages to its weaver members regularly. For this reason, the weaver members
have shifted their linkage to master weavers, traders or are working independently. The
WCS feel that they are not able to participate in various Expos, Exhibitions throughout the
country due to heavy stall rent charged on them. They also feel that restriction on credit
sales is another hurdle in their marketing activities.

11.4.2 Working Capital

The PWCS are not able to repay their cash credit loan regularly to Sambalpur District
Central Co-operative Bank due to non-receipt of sale proceeds from Apex WCS since long
and non-release of funds under Market Development Assistance, Marketing Incentives,
Rebate, Expo-rebate scheme etc from Govt. in time. It is worth mentioning that the backlog
funds receivable from Apex/Govt. are interest free where as the amount payable to the
bank is charged with a rate of interest (11.5% to 16%) by SDCCB It seems that the inter est
accrued since 1998 towards cash credit loan is higher than the principal amount. As a
result, there is a reduction in quantum of cash credit limit sanctioned by NABARD.

29
11.4.3 Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF)
The PWCs are facing problems from EPF department . Recently, the EPF authority has
seized the bank account of Ananta Narayan Tie & Dye WCS. Out of the fear of action to be
taken by the EPF department, the secretary of the society seems to be repulsive to
discharge his duty properly and smoothly, thus aff ecting the progress of development work
of the society.

11.4.4 Restriction on appointment/ enhancement of salary of the paid employees by

Govt.
The Register, Co-operative Societies (RCS) Orissa vide his circular no. 8059 dated 26 -05-
2000 has imposed ban on fresh appointment/ enhancement of salary of paid employees of
the society until further order. As a result, the salary of the staff of the societies since last
five years could not be revised. This is cited as one of the reasons for the staff not taking
much interest to discharge their duties on day to day affairs of the society.

11.4.5 Revival/ Rejuvenation of PWCS

Revival of these PWCS can take place if the following steps are taken:

11.4.5.1 Repayment of old dues by Apex WCS / Govt. – The old dues if cleared would
provide sufficient working capital to these PWCS and help them reach out to better
markets.
11.4.5.2 Conversion of existing PWCS under Self Help Co -operative Act 2001 -
Existing co-operatives with potential could be helped to convert into the cooperative under
the Self Help Co-operatives Act. For conversion to the new Act, it would be best to look
only at such co-operatives as could get their audit up to date and as could wipe off losses
with releases from the Govt. and Boyanika/Sambalpuri Vastralaya. The option of igno ring
existing co-operatives and establishing new co -operatives in the cluster too could be
explored.
11.4.5.3 Special One Time Settlement Scheme (OTS) - The Govt. is negotiating with
the co-operative banks to waive the interest due since 31 -03-98 to the banks, provided the
primary co-operatives pay 10% of dues (principal outstanding and interest accrued till 31 -
03-98) up front, along with 4 post dated cheques of equal amounts for the balance of
amount within a year, But it is learnt that the District Co -operative Central Bank is not
willing to accept the proposal as waiving of huge amount of interest would affect its balance
sheet.
11.4.5.4 Exploring new market linkages outside Orissa - In order to explore the new
market linkages outside the state, market research has to be undertaken with the support
and assistance of professional fashion houses like National Institute of Fashion Technology
(NIFT), National Institute of Designs (NID), before designing handloom products. Also
exposure visit of weavers to markets outside Oris sa would be helpful.

30
 Table 1: Details of existing SHGs of Barpalli Cluster
Area Name of SHG Date of Mem Common Financing Subsidy Loan
form. bers Activity Bank received availed
(Rs.) (Rs.)
1. Barpali 1. Gangadhar 11.01.03 20 Tie & Dye SBI,Barpali - 1,20,000
NAC Meher (Male) and Weaving
2. Maa Mangala 16 Thrift & SBI, Barpali - 1,00,000
11.05.02
3.Maa Baisnabi 19 Credit -do- 50,000 30,000
21.06.03
4. Maa Tarini 15 Stitching -do- - -
23.08.05
5. Maa Metakani 20 Thrift & -do- - -
29.08.05
6. Laxmi Narayan 15 Credit BAGB,Barpal - -
12.07.05
7. Gangadhar 20 Thrift & i 20,000 1,00,000
26.09.03
Meher (Woman) Credit SBI, Barpali
Thrift &
Credit Thrift
& Credit and
tie & dyeing
2. Baghbadi 1.Jyoti 19.04.01 12 Tie & Dyeing SBI, Barpali 10,000 -
2.Binapani 21.10.02 10 Thrift & -do- - 3,00,000
3.Patitapabana 08.12.02 19 Credit SBI, Barpali - 5,86000
4.Jay Jagannath 13.09.02 15 Thrift & SBI, Barpali 10,000 4,00,000
5.Bir Bajrang 08.04.02 13 Credit -do- 10,000 50,000
6.Sairam 04.10.02 12 Thrift & -do- - 1,20,000
7. Maa Durga 18.03.01 10 Credit Thrift -do- - 2,50,000
8. Maa 01.02.05 15 & Credit -do- - 63,000
Chandrahasini Thrift &
Credit
Thrift &
Credit
Thrift &
Credit
3. Bandhpali 1.Maa 23.05.02 19 Tie & Dyeing Andhra Bank 25,000 3,10,000
Jagadamba 23.05.02 20 Thrift & -do- - 25,000
2.Maa 20.12.02 14 Credit -do- - 25,000
Samaleswari 5.7.01 14 Thrift & -do- - 25000
3.Mahalaxmi Credit
4. Jay Maa Thrift &
Bhawani Credit
4. Jalpali 1. Jagat Janani 28.03.04 11 Thrift & SBI, Barpali - 11,000
2. Jay Jagannath 14 Credit Andhra Bank - -
22.10.01
3. Jay Maa 16 Thrift & SBI, Bijepur - -
Mahalaxmi 05.05.05 14 Credit SDCCB, - 42000/-
4. Maa Saraswati 15 Thrift & Bijepur 25,000 3,00,000/-
5. Jay Shivashakti 24.12.04 15 Credit Thrift Andhra Bank - 45,000/-
6. Jay Maa 31.08.01 14 & Credit SDCCB, 25000 2,62,500/-
Bhawani Thrift & Bijepur
7. Jay Jagannath 17.12.04 Credit Andhra Bank
Attma 05.09.99 Thrift &
Credit
Thrift &
Credit

31
 Table 2: List of Primary Weaver’s Co -operative Societies

Sr. Name of Address Date of Members Cloth dues pending Dues Loan Present Stocks
No. the Formati Enrolled with Boyanika / receivable outstanding
society on Sambalpuri from Govt. with Bank
Vastralaya Rs. In lakhs
(Rs. In lakhs)
1 Janata At/P.O. Barpalli, 12.12.57 203 10.86 25.17 49.20 10.97
Vastralaya Dist. Bargarh
2 Meher -do- 2.4.71 376 4.60 11.36 19.73 6.36
Arts &
Crafts
3 Ananta -do- 3.5.77 121 1.00 - - 0.21
Narayan
Tie & Dye
4 Jalpalli At/P.O. Jalpalli, 31.1.81 295 2.85 10.38 36.05 7.59
PWCS Dist. Bargarh

32
 12. Infrastructure analysis of cluster

The cluster’s potential is marred

by some infrastructural issues.
The connectivity of the villages
is very poor. The villages lack
sufficient spaces for peg
warping and brush sizing and
may have demand for other
such activities such as common
dyeing, yarn bank, common
design centre and information
kiosk etc. However, since
Poor sanitation in Bandhapalli Village presently there is no entity to
own and manage these types of
infrastructure, the cluster is surviving on the rudimentary facilities that it has. It wou ld be
perhaps only after some interventions in the cluster that the need for such infrastructure
would get articulated.

13. Cluster Map – The current cluster map is placed at annexure 3 of the report.

14. SWOT Analysis

14.1 Strengths
• Ikats of Orissa have a lot of repu tation and fame
• Rich resource of traditional skills in the form of national & state awardees
• Regular sales at the local market
• Strong support from the State government departments
• Good connectivity of Barpalli with Bhubaneshwar and Kolkata by train
• Presence of substantial number of entrepreneur weavers
• Availability of credit support to the SHGs from various sources

14.2 Weaknesses
• Dyeing quality issues
• Poor living conditions of the weavers hampering their work
• All pre-loom processes labour intensive, thus limiting the productivity
• Poor financial condition of the PWCS
• Too much dependence on governmental support
• Lack of market awareness
• Limited product range
• Ikat’s inherent limitations in terms of colours and designs
• Local market low paying and does not provide impetus to regular product improvement
• Raw material availability at higher rates lowers the profitability

33
14.3 Opportunities

• Increasing demand for cotton fabrics across the globe

• Persistent support from state government for various activities
• Possibility of revival of some cooperative societies under the new Self Help
Cooperative Act
• Ikat can neither be copied on power looms nor by printing

14.4 Threats
• Low general consumer perception for the skill involved in the ikat process leading to
disregard of the product
• Competition from similar looking printed fabrics
• Poor financial conditions of the weaving community as well as the government support
institutions which owe to the PWCS

15. Vision for the cluster

The vision for the cluster is proposed as:

“Barpali cluster would reach out to niche buyers offering its exquisite Ikats in a
varied product range to increase the present margins by 15% and the output by
about 10% by the year 2009”.

16. Implementation Strategy

Barpali handloom cluster is unique in the follow ing ways:

• Firstly it has a large number of entrepreneur weavers who buy raw materials, produce
fabric and sell directly. Presence of a strong local market has supported these
entrepreneurial initiatives of the weavers. This market too does not seem to be saturated
and whatever is produced by the weavers gets sold every Friday, at least during the peak
sale season stretching from October to March as per the presently available information
from various sources.
• The other important section of stakeholders o f the cluster is of several National/ State
Awardees, some of whom have travelled far and wide, and who keep on innovating new
designs. They have some linkages at the national level, albeit not consistent and
predominantly based on the fairs & exhibitions provided by government institutions. Not
many clusters have such a high number of recognized master crafts persons.
• Thirdly the weavers and the master weavers of the cluster are not only linked with each
other but the master weavers get their fabrics prod uced from weavers out of the cluster
also. This implies that the weavers as well as master weavers of the cluster exercise a lot
of mutual freedom in their business and further that issues of design secrecy and
negotiation of weaving rates are also quite prominent in the cluster.
• Further, there are a number of Self Help Groups of women weavers (mainly tie & dyers
or helpers for pre-loom processes) who have been able to finance the household’s weaving
activities and other needs. Some men’s groups have also been availing bank loans for their
34
activities. The village level clubs which run in quite a few numbers play a lobbying as well
as welfare activities in the cluster.
• While the collapse of the cooperatives has led to a substantial population of
entrepreneur weavers, there is yet again a population of contractual weavers in the cluster
who essentially remain in this state due to lack of funds and risk taking capacity to venture
into the entrepreneurial mode. In some cases these are the weavers who get high ly paid by
the national awardees due to the intricate design they weave and thus get paid much better
than the other weavers.

As such the intervention strategy for the cluster would be separately for entrepreneur
weavers, contractual weavers, master weavers, national awardees and then this again may
be customised and timed as per the need of each of the four villages of the cluster.

Entrepreneur Weavers: This set of weavers is mainly operating in the local markets and
the broad strategy would be to initially increase their market penetration in the existing local
market by helping them avail credit to be able to regularly buy raw material. Further they
would be also helped to diversify into new product ranges and alternative markets to cope
with the lean seasons of the local markets if it is found that the cost of capital would not
justify producing and stocking products during the lean season and that the prices in the
peak season fall due to increased supply. For this matter, these weavers would be
motivated to form Joint Liability Groups for availing credit and need based networks for the
sake of common purchase of raw material and marketing.

Master Weavers: Since these persons have tried out in the regional nd local markets an
have the comparative capacity to invest for exploring new and better paying markets, they
would be helped to take up group based collective marketing efforts and even avail credit
in order to increase their production quantum to sufficient volumes for the distant markets.
Linkages with various marketing channels would be attempted for these master weaver
groups.. Helping the master weavers to make use of the local opportunities of sustainable
supply and to fulfil the same through sub contracting relationships with the weav er groups
is also going to be one of the ways for consolidation of their businesses.

National Awardees: Opening up greater market opportunities and initial creation of

demand for ‘Ikats’ in the niche and may be export markets would be done through the
national/ state awardees who do not wish to and cannot operate in the local markets due to
their intricate designs and higher level of craftsmanship. They have a reputation and much
greater exposure to the needs of the niche buyers. Thus they would be the linked to new
niche markets in a sustainable manner through product diversification and introduction of
new designs and marketing tools. The awardees have been able to generate some amount
of national linkages due to their participation in national fairs & exhibitions and the ensuing
orders. However, as these programmes are increasing in their number and as the number
of applicants for such subsidized participations is increasing, they are finding the
competition in these fairs increasing and thus the falli ng margins as well as sales. Further,
due to the lack of sustained efforts on their part, they have not been able to maintain their

35
linkages with the buyers outside the state and their orders have remained very sporadic.
There too the competition has incre ased and thus the margins have been diminishing. As
such these awardees, who tend to operate with their premium pricing tactics with highly
exquisite fabrics, are not able to reap commercial benefits of their skills. Attempts would
be made to alter the value propositions of their products through either inexpensive design
changes or creation of more value addition perception through new techniques such as use
of vegetable dyed Ikats, use of a variety of yarns in the Ikats to create unique kind of
ranges. These awardees would be helped to reach out to mainstream bulk buyers and
exporters through their joint marketing and value addition efforts.

Contractual weavers: The contractual weavers are either into cotton or into silk weaving.
The local market is predominantly for cotton fabrics only. Thus the weavers who are into
cotton weaving and wish to graduate into entrepreneurial mode, would be helped to access
credit, the present limiting factor and then helped with other necessary inputs for their
capacity building. However, such a route would be initially not taken for the weavers who
are into silk weaving till they are not able to assess the viability of markets and their
capacity to operate in those markets. Taster sessions for some of these weavers, who
have the willingness to outgrow the local markets, would be provided about the niche
markets, through exposure visits and helping for participation in fairs and exhibitions to
begin with.

Thus the broad strategy to be followed would be to initially consolid ate the position of the
cluster in the local and regional markets substantially and at the same time help some of
the willing weavers to move on to other markets. Emphasis would be to motivate weavers
into group behaviour, thus bringing down their transact ion costs for procurement, selling
etc; help them access credit as per their needs to sustain their regular production to their
fullest potential and then later be provided other inputs such as design/ product
development, management training etc. The poss ibility of bank / micro fiancé institution
linkages would be explored and then suitable steps would be taken to link the weavers with
these credit institutions. As the needs would emerge, the weaver JLGs/ SHGs may be
grouped into Self Help Cooperatives so that they have a legal stature and yet the flexibility
to organise their businesses the way they want.

There are a number of defunct cooperative societies in the cluster but which possess
substantial assets in terms of buildings etc. Since these are in t he process of availing ‘One
Time Settlement’ from the state government, they would be on their own after that. At this
moment they would be focussed upon to explore the possibility of converting some of these
suitable ones into Self Help Cooperatives to or ganise their production better. However the
revival of these cooperatives seems a distant dream at present.

The presence of local clubs of weavers may provide some opportunities of proliferating
their greater role on the cluster’s dynamics, to begin wit h welfare activities, an extension of
some of their present activities and then possibly into business related issues to drive the
cluster’s growth in future. Yet the dynamism of the newly created Self Help Cooperatives

36
might take over this role too. Hence the approach would be weigh the options and then
choose the better one.

The CDA would be supported by a number of field support staff appointed by a local NGO
which would also act as the channel for submission of proposals for support, follow up on
registration of self help cooperatives, if need arises, also extend its micro credit support to
the weavers and play a key role for the cluster till the same responsibility gets gradually
transferred to the weavers’ own institutions.

17. Proposed Action Plan

17.1 Short term
♦ Exposure visits: Exposure visits of the stake holders would be made in two phases. In
the first phase, some of the members of the SHGs would be taken to the well performing
clusters where the CDP of UNIDO has been successfully implemented for enabl ing
them to understand the broad concept of CDP. In second phase, some of the selected
young entrepreneurs would be taken to some of the important markets outside Orissa to
promote marketing activities. In all the visits, the stake holders will contribute at least
10% of the total expenses.
♦ Strengthening of SHGs: Presently, although there is an existence of significant no. of
SHGs in the cluster, their activities related to production and marketing is very limited.
Many of the SHGs are dependent upon the Go vt. subsidies. In the present action plan,
the groups would be pushed into common business activities like, procurement of raw
materials, production and marketing through a reputed NGO so that they would be self
sufficient in long run.
♦ Formation of new Self Help Groups (SHG): At least 15 to 20 new SHGs would be
also formed and strengthened for doing common business activities like the existing
SHGs.
♦ Revival of Co-operatives / Self Help Co-operatives (SHC): Although four co-
operatives exist in the cluster, but their function towards providing regular employment
to the weavers is limited. Under the existing Act and Rules, the societies are not able to
do business activities freely. In this regard, a series of awareness programme will be
organised among the members of the society for exploring the possibilities of coming
under new Self Help Co-operative Act 2001 under the guidance of Principal, Centre for
Co-operative Management, Bargarh. In the first phase, the societies having minimum
liabilities would be taken up under new Act.
♦ Market Survey: In order to promote marketing activities in the cluster, it is very much
essential to have a market survey to know the demand of our products in different
markets. This activity would be facilitated through a renowned agency/ NGO within a
period of 5 to 6 months.
♦ Development of new Market Linkages: Apart from the existing market, different
market linkages would be created both inside and outside the state. Initially, importance
would be given to develop new markets inside the state and once the stake holders
would know about the demand of their products outside the state with regard to quality,

37
 delivery time, mode of payments etc. more and more new markets outside the state
would be developed. At least 3 to 4 buyer -seller meets can be organised both inside
and outside the state.
♦ Design Inputs: Design plays a vital role in marketing. One of the main reasons for
decreasing popularity of handloom products of Orissa is the absence of new designs.
Thus, 10 to 15 young qualified weavers would be given training on CAD/CAM on design
development from a reputed institution. Later on, one CAD/CAM centre would be set up
in the cluster and this young group would take the lead role in providing design
development support to the cluster stake holders.
♦ Product Diversification (including vegetable dyed products): At present, the cluster
is producing only a limited range of handloom products like sari, salwar suit, lungi,
stoles, handkerchiefs using synthetic colours. Attempts would be made to develop new
products using vegetable and other colours which have tremendous market demand.
More emphasis would be given to develop market led products.
♦ Strengthening of the yarn supply for the cluster: Presently, the weavers are
procuring raw materials either from the local market or from 2 to 3 local suppliers for
which some times the price is unexpectedly become high. There is no system to control
the price of the raw materials. Attempts would be made to open a yarn depot under Mill
Gate Price Scheme of Govt. of India through National Handloom Development
Corporation (NHDC), Bhubaneswar.
♦ Credit Linkages for the Groups: Although the groups are availing credit from the bank,
their activities are not looked into by the bank. As a result, many a times the purpose of
availing credit is not utilised properly by the groups. In this context, more and more
micro finance institutes / financing institutions would be linked to the cluster.
♦ Entrepreneurship development amongst artisans: After forming and strengtheni ng
various groups around 25 to 30 young entrepreneurs would be selected and would be
provided further training on entrepreneurship so that they can take lead role in overall
business development in the cluster.
♦ Productivity Improvement: In order to enhance the wage earning of the weavers it is
essential to improve the productivity in the existing process. For this, one study on
optimum time utilisation in various weaving processes would be carried out through
Institute of Textile Technology, Choudwar. One renowned technical consultant would be
given the charge of doing this activity.

17.2 Long term

♦ Formation of Federation of SHGs: Once the SHGs are formed and strengthened in
large number, one federation among them will be formed. This federation would ta ke
care of overall development of the stake holders in long run.
♦ Technology up-gradation interventions: Most of the weavers are using traditional pit
looms with dobby attachments. Attempts would be made to provide sufficient no. of
either frame loom or broad loom with jacquard attachment depending up on the market
needs for diversified products.

38
♦ Improvement in dyeing practices: Presently, the weavers are following traditional
dyeing techniques for which the colour combinations, fastness to light, washing e tc. of
handloom fabrics are not up to the satisfaction of the customers. Attempts would
therefore be made to adopt new dyeing technology with latest developed dyes among
the weavers.
♦ Buyer-Seller meets: In order to promote marketing activities, buyer -seller meets would
be organised at different intervals both inside and out side the cluster by inviting reputed
designers, exporters, producers from all corners of the country and abroad.
♦ Welfare activities with the support of various agencies for the weavers: To initiate
this activity, attempts would be made initially to cover weavers under various welfare
schemes of Govt. of India like Health Insurance Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi Bunakar
Bima Yojana, issue of photo identity card to weavers etc. Depending upon the needs
other welfare activities would be taken up in the cluster such as sanitation, medical
check up.

39
 Annexure 1:
India: Financial Year-wise, Variety-wise Production of Cloth

(Qty. in Million Sq. Mtrs.)

Financial Year Cotton Cloth Blended Cloth 100% Non Cotton Cloth Total Qty. Growth rate

. Qty. Growth % Share Qty. Growth % Share Qty. Growth % Share . .

rate rate rate
1995-1996 18900 12% 60% 4024 13% 13% 8536 14% 27% 31460 12%
1996-1997 19841 5% 58% 4888 21% 14% 9569 12% 28% 34298 9%
1997-1998 19992 1% 54% 5751 18% 16% 11153 17% 30% 36896 8%
1998-1999 17949 -10% 50% 5699 -1% 16% 11896 7% 33% 35543 -4%
1999-2000 18989 6% 49% 5913 4% 15% 13724 15% 36% 38626 9%
2000-2001 19627 3% 49% 6348 7% 16% 14358 5% 36% 40333 4%
2001-2002 19769 1% 48% 6288 -1% 15% 15334 7% 37% 41390 3%
2002-2003 19296 -2% 47% 5877 -7% 14% 16289 6% 39% 41462 0%
2003-2004 18062 -6% 43% 6078 3% 14% 17970 10% 43% 42109 2%
2004-2005 20578 14% 46% 6025 -1% 13% 18388 2% 41% 44991 7%
2004-2005 4653 8% 43% 1512 10% 14% 4543 23% 42% 10708 14%
(Apr-June)
2005-2006 5647 21% 48% 1496 -1% 13% 4525 0% 39% 11668 9%
(Apr-June)

Note: Growth Rate is calculated w.r.t. same period last year

Data Source: O/o Textile Commissioner, Mumbai

40
 India: Financial Year-wise, Sector-wise Production of Cloth

(Qty. in Million Sq. Mtrs.)

Financial Total Growth

Mill Sector Handloom Sector Power loom Sector Hosiery Sector
Year Qty. rate
Growth % Growth % Growth % Growth %
. Qty. Qty. Qty. Qty. . .
rate Share rate Share rate Share rate Share
1995-1996 2019 13% 6% 7202 17% 23% 17201 6% 55% 5038 34% 16% 31460 12%
1996-1997 1957 -3% 6% 7457 4% 22% 19351 12% 56% 5533 10% 16% 34298 9%
1997-1998 1948 0% 5% 7604 2% 21% 20951 8% 57% 6393 16% 17% 36896 8%
1998-1999 1785 -8% 5% 6792 -11% 19% 20689 -1% 58% 6276 -2% 18% 35543 -4%
1999-2000 1714 -4% 4% 7353 8% 19% 23187 12% 60% 6373 2% 17% 38626 9%
2000-2001 1670 -3% 4% 7472 2% 19% 24503 6% 61% 6688 5% 17% 40333 4%
2001-2002 1546 -7% 4% 7585 2% 18% 25192 3% 61% 7068 6% 17% 41390 3%
2002-2003 1496 -3% 4% 5989 -21% 14% 26109 4% 63% 7868 11% 19% 41462 0%
2003-2004 1433 -4% 3% 5581 -7% 13% 27258 4% 65% 7837 0% 19% 42109 2%
2004-2005 1493 4% 3% 5705 2% 13% 28704 5% 64% 9089 16% 20% 44991 7%
2004-2005
360 2% 3% 1276 -1% 12% 7037 21% 66% 2035 6% 19% 10708 14%
(Apr-June)
2005-2006
339 -6% 3% 1504 18% 13% 7313 4% 63% 2511 23% 22% 11668 9%
(Apr-June)

Note: Growth Rate is calculated w.r.t. same period last year

Data Source: O/o Textile Commissioner, Mumbai

41
 Annexure 2:

Export trend of Cotton Handloom Fabrics & Made -ups

Trend in value of export of Cotton Handloom Fabrics

Trend in value of export of Cotton Handloom Fabrics

Year Fabric Made-Ups Total Total

( Rs. in Crores )
Value Of Exports Over 5 years
Fabrics 1998-99Value
(Value in Rs.503.58
Crores)
Of Exports Over 5 years
1414.76 1918.34 456
Product Name Group 1998 -99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03
Fabrics 1999-00(Value in Rs.488.48
Crores) 1491.57 1980.05 447
RMHK @ 16.63 19.00 30.40 17.53 12.14
Product Name Group 1998 -99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03
Lungies@
RMHK
2000-0140.06
16.63
489.63
43.14
19.00
46.05
30.40
1637.82
46.54
17.53
40.23
12.14
2127.45 466
Dhoties 57.38 78.48 74.88 123.28 339.58
Lungies 2001-0240.06 496.47
43.14 46.05 1568.47
46.54 40.23 2064.94 433
Sarees 16.34 12.02 14.78 9.45 10.94
Dhoties 57.38 78.48 74.88 123.28 339.58
Shirting's 43.07 37.97 40.00 29.09 51.11
Sarees 2002-0316.34 842.94
12.02 14.78 1790.33
9.45 10.94 2633.27 544
Furnishings 14.28 18.45 15.18 17.51 23.42
Shirting's 43.07 37.97 40.00 29.09 51.11
Other Fabrics 315.83 279.42 268.34 253.06 365.53
Furnishings 14.28 18.45 15.18 17.51 23.42
FABRICS TOTAL 503.58 488.48 489.62 496.47 842.94
Other Fabrics 315.83 279.42 268.34 253.06 365.53
@ Real Madras handkerchief
FABRICS TOTAL 503.58 488.48 489.62 496.47 842.94
@ Real Madras handkerchief 31

32

32

42
 Trend in value of export of Cotton Handloom Fabrics

Value Of Exports Over 5 years

Fabrics (Value in Rs. Crores)

Product Name Group 1998 -99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03

@
RMHK 16.63 19.00 30.40 17.53 12.14
Lungies 40.06 43.14 46.05 46.54 40.23
Dhoties 57.38 78.48 74.88 123.28 339.58
Sarees 16.34 12.02 14.78 9.45 10.94
Shirting's 43.07 37.97 40.00 29.09 51.11
Furnishings 14.28 18.45 15.18 17.51 23.42
Other Fabrics 315.83 279.42 268.34 253.06 365.53
FABRICS TOTAL 503.58 488.48 489.62 496.47 842.94
@ Real Madras handkerchief

32

43
 Trend in value of export of cotton handloom Made-ups

Value Of Exports Over 5 years

Made-Ups (Value in Rs. Crores)
Bed linen 3.34 5.57 6.28 20.14 39.51
Table linen 9.91 8.19 30.79 36.49 47.19
Toilet & Kitchen linen 6.60 8.89 36.79 36.49 43.57
Bedcovers/Bedspreads 200.07 204.11 211.93 211.01 173.67
Curtains 65.43 79.02 104.04 106.39 116.37
Other Furnishing Articles 752.91 764.24 830.10 761.22 940.71
Clothing Accessories 24.85 33.36 57.31 53.97 65.61
Other made -ups 31.88 34.74 62.97 82.12 102.68
Carpets & Floor Coverings 319.75 353.44 298.31 242.83 261.02
Made-ups Total 1414.76 1491.56 1637.82 1568.47 1790.33
GRAND TOTAL 1918.34 1980.04 2127.44 2064.94 2633.27

33

44
Continent wise export of Cotton Handlooms during 2002-03

1998 -99 1999 - 00 2000 - 01 2001 - 02 2002 - 03

Continent
( Rs. in Crores )
Asia 315.74 316.21 369.46 340.51 443.79

Africa 95.42 98.91 128.12 160.87 164.41

Europe 840.06 842.32 831.77 802.27 989.05
America 567.61 620.41 684.28 660.84 926.03
LAC 29.51 30.95 47.16 41.32 36.39
Oceanic 70.01 71.25 66.66 59.12 73.59
Total 1918.34 1980.05 2127.45 2064.94 2633.27

34

45
Product group wise composition of cotton handloom exports basket 2002-03

35

46
Annexure 3:

Current Cluster Map of Barpalli Ikat Weaving Cluster

Institute Of
Export Inst. Of Coop.
Textile
Promotion Management, KAS
Local Textiles Bargarh WSC, Technology, ADT,
Councils Foundation
NGO Committee BBSR Choudwar Bargarh

BOYANIKA

Local
Barpalli Town – 250 Looms Bandhpali – 250 Looms
Traders (15-20) SHGs – 2 •SHGs – 6
MWs – 5 •MW – 1 Loom
PWCS - 3 •Tie & Dyer - 20 Repairers (3)
Tie & Dyer - 70 •Formal Micro-credit
Local Shops S. B. - 45 Committee
NA-10 Designing &
(10)
Dyeing Service
S.B. Providers(11)

Local Haat Jalpalli – 200 looms Baghbadi – 120 Loms Loom

Behera MW- 4 •9 SHGs Accessories
Tie & Dyer - 10
Market Suppliers (5)

NW MWs Yarn, dyes & chemical suppliers

BAGB SDCCB SBI Andhra • Local Traders – 5
Bank • Traders from Bargarh – 5
National Market • NHDC
• Behera Market
• S. B.

BAGB- BOLANGIR ANCHALIK GRAMYA BANK, SDCCB - SAMBALPUR DISTRICT CENTRAL CO -OPERATIVE BANK, SBI - STATE BANK OF INDIA, SB -
Annexure 8: BASTRALAYA, WSC - WEAVER’S SERVICE CENTRE, ADT - ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF TEXTILE, NHDC - NATIONAL HANDLOOM DEVELOPMENT
SAMBALPURI
CORPORATION, SHG - SELF HELP GROUP, MW - MASTER WEAVER, PWCS - PRIMARY WEAVER’S CO -OPERATIVE SOCIETY
47
Annexure 6:

List of Holidays in Weavers’ Community of Barpali Cluster

S. No. Event No. of Month

Days
1 Paush Purnima 2 January
2 Dola Purnima & Holi 2 March
3 Sabitri Brata 1 May
4 Seetal Sasthi 7 March
5 Rath Yatra 1 June
6 Bahuda Yatra 1 July
7 Ganesh Puja 2 August
8 Nua Khai 2 August
9 Biswakarma Puja 1 September
10 Dassera 5 October
11 Diwali 2 November
12 Ras Purnima 3 December
13 Margasira Purnima 1 December
14 Weekly Laxmi puja in 4 December
Margasira Month
TOTAL 34

48
 Annexure 8:

Table1: DETAILS OF MASTER WEAVERS

Villages Name of the Master No.of Looms Type of Own accessories Loom wise Variety of production
Weaver looms working looms/attachments Production
in the
cluster
Jalpali 1. Sriram Meher 15 2 Pit/dobby Dobby-15 Sari-12, dress-3 120s/120s fine cotton
2. Ashwini Meher* 10 3 Pit/dobby Dobby-10 Sari-7, dress-3 sari,120s / 100s,100s / 80s
3. Gobinda Meher 5 5 -do- Dobby-3 Sari-5 medium cotton sari, 120s
4. Keshab Meher 5 1 -do- Dobby-5 Sari-5 /120s, 120s/ 100s,
5. Biraji Meher 15 - plain - Sari-5 120s/80s, 100s/80s salwar,
6. Sullabha Meher* 25 2 pit/dobby - Sari-20, dress-5 100s/100s, 80s/80s,
7. Mohilal Meher* 70 1 -do-,plain-35 Dobby-15 Sari-70 60s/32s cotton pant and
8. Mahendra Meher* 75 5 -do-,plain-20 Dobby-25 Sari-75 dopattas are produced
9. Nrupamani Meher* 130 7 -do-,plain-65 Dobby-40 Sari-130
10. Kirtana Meher 5 2 pit/dobby Dobby-5 Sari-5
11. Chulamani Meher* 40 6 -do- Dobby-20 Sari-40
12. Udhaba Meher 10 - plain Dobby-5 Dress-10
13. Kailash Meher 12 4 pit/dobby Dobby-3 Sari-12
14. Suresh Meher 12 - -do-,plain-7 Dobby-7 Sari-12
15. Suman Meher 8 - pit/dobby - Sari-8
16. Mahadev Meher 6 - -do- Dobby-3 Sari-6
17. Netrananda Meher* 20 - pit/dobby-5 Dobby-5 Than-15, Sari-5
18. Sukru Meher 10 2 pit/dobby Dobby-5 Sari-10
19. Shasi Meher 10 2 pit - Than Sari -10

TOTAL 488 42

49
Barpali 1. Khetramohan Meher 20 10 Pit/Dobby Dobby-10 Sari, Dress Wide ranges of tie & dyed
2. Bhagwan Meher 10 4 Pit/Dobby Dobby-5 Sari, Dress saris, stoles, dress
3. Sripati Meher 45 5 Pit/Dobby - Dress materials are produced
4. Bhikari Meher 5 5 Pit/Dobby Dobby-3 Sari, Dress
5. Milan Meher 10 - Pit - Tassar Than, dress
6. Chanchal Meher 10 5 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
7. Sukadev Meher 5 2 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
8. Kailash Meher 5 2 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
9. Iswar Meher 10 4 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
10. Chaluram Meher 10 6 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
11. Dolamani Meher 5 2 Pit/Dobby - Sari, Dress
15. Tarachand Meher 5 5 Pit/Dobby - Sari
16. Surendra Meher 30 10 Pit/Dobby - Stoles, Sari, Dress
17. Dayalu Me her 30 10 Pit/Dobby - Stoles, Sari, Dress

200 70
Bandhpal 1. Dibya Meher 200 10 Pit/Dobby Dobby-30 Sari-5, dress-195 Mostly dresses and college
i uniforms are produced
Jalpali 1. Dharmali Meher 5 5
2. Santosh Meher 8 8
3. Ram Chandra Meher 10 10
4. Radhakanta Meher 10 10
GRAND TOTAL 921 155
N.B. * indicates master weavers possessing no looms in their house hold

Table 2: List of National / State Awardees

Villages Name of the Awardees
Barpali Padmashree Kunja Bihari Khetramohan Meher
Meher Phagun Meher
Surendra Meher Sukadev Meher
Dayalu Meher Sesadev Meher
Smt. Swarnalata Meher Dahita Luha
Bhagwan Meher
Jalpali Gobinda Meher

50