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LOOMS
A paper on Banaras Handloom
Industry
RANJAN SHARMA
IIND MBA
07471
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
MGT- 406
ASSIGNMENT NO.2
India stands for its culture and heritage. Since aeons, our culture has
witnessed myriad changes. From Mughals to Rajputs to Portugese to
Britishers, each one has left its indelible mark on Indian culture. One cardinal
aspect of our culture are the various dresses worn in different parts of the
country. And Indian saree is one such dress which is common to every state
and the womenfolk of India. Amidst plethora of sarees, Banarasi sarees are
hailed as the topnotch in quality and design. Banaras silk sarees are an
integral part of the Indian sartorial landscape.
The problem:
Weavers are the soul of the Banaras handloom industry. They are the ones
who toil day and night to give us exquisite piece of art and skill. But today
this industry is facing a major downturn. There are numerous people who
have been denied their share in the development process. One such group is
the Weavers of Varanasi. Their poverty prevents them from satisfying their
bare necessities. Their obscurity prevents them from making their sufferings
known. Their illiteracy prevents them from fighting against the injustice.
Some statistics:
There are about one lac handloom weavers at Varanasi, presently 40,000 are
active. In addition, there are hundreds of traders, dyers, designers, card-
makers and ancillary support providers. The annual turnover (at Varanasi
price) is estimated at around Rs.400 crores. While being concentrated in
Varanasi City, the activity has spread to surrounding villages.
70% of weaver force is in the city. 90% of city weaver force is Muslim, while
30% of weaver force in villages is Muslim.
The main product of Banaras Handloom Cluster is saree and its dominance
continues. The other products are:
• Dress material
• Furnishing fabric
• Fashion accessories, eg, stole, scarves
• Saree Streams: Yarn and Look
In the high end segment, A Banarasi silk saree is not so strongly on the
priority list of an Indian bride from a prosperous family as it was earlier. The
heavy work (embroidery) sarees are out-competing Banarasi sarees. There
are two areas in which heavy work sarees apparently are exerting pressure
on Banaras saree.
Work pricing: A basic heavy saree may cost Rs. 2000 and work on it gets
priced at, Rs. 8000; leading to a price of Rs. 10,000/-. Unlike weave, work
pricing is somewhat discretionary and offers scope to the retail outlets for
larger margins. The heavy work trend according to market observers is
undermining the significance of exquisite weave in the traditional aesthetic
consciousness.
In the low end segment, Banarasi saree does not possess long-established or
traditional brand equity. It has grown quantitatively in this segment as a
result of expansion of weaver force and market conditions. It is fighting
power loom sarees there. It manages to secure some volumes but mainly at
the cost of helpless weaver. South India in recent years, has emerged an at
attractive destination for Banarasi sarees in lower-end segment.
At one level, the brand equity of high-profile retail outlets (e.g., Kala Niketan)
now, in certain context, matches or exceeds that of Banarasi high-end
sarees. This has affected the value-chain; such retail outlets securing a
larger share of the price-cake; squeezing the share of Banaras-based players.
In both price segments, saree has been facing problems and these problems
do not appear temporary; notwithstanding occasional spurts in demand.
There is a market for non-saree products too, but the dress material,
furnishing fabric are selling on the strength of their own aesthetic /economic
strength; without drawing strength from Banaras brand equity. The
customers, unlike in case of sarees, do not actively seek Banaras weave in
respect of these products. In fact, for dress material and furnishing fabric,
the sector has not attempted product development; it merely sells fabric.
Export market:
• Furnishing fabric
• Accessories, e.g., scarves, stoles Buddhist brocade
The exports, in most cases, entail large volume (for a given trader); the
industry does not have networking systems. The orders are time-bound. The
exporter, many times, converts it into a power loom order. The products in
the overseas market are largely positioned in purpose terms – saree, table
runner, curtain, stole and its handloom identity remains either undeclared or
low key.
The export products move largely on the strength of intrinsic aesthetics and
workmanship; bereft of Banaras brand-equity
The foreign buyers remain fairly removed from Banaras in terms of reaching
down directly to local traders and societies, leave alone weavers or asking
explicitly for Banaras weave and design
The industry has not been able to explore the neighbouring country
saree/lahenga market, e.g., Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
Other factors:
There are a number of factors which gave rise to the grim situation
prevailing in this industry. One of the main reason was the arrival of
powerlooms.
At Banaras, the two sectors are extremely inter-twined. While there are
estimatedly 40,000 working handlooms, there are 10,000 active power looms
Powerlooms use the cheaper Chinese silk yarn, whereas the handloom uses
expensive silk yarn from karnatka. Because of the trade liberalization it is
very easy to procure Chinese silk these days and it is posing a threat to the
handloom industry.
Power looms mix silk and synthetic. Handlooms have also begun doing this;
reducing the gap.
As handloom moved from higher end to lower end products, designs got
simplified, rendering it vulnerable to copy by power loom.Handloom owners
got to own power looms, it became easy for them to pass off power loom
products as handloom produced.
While there is an association of traders (gaddedars), there does not exist any
association of weavers, designers, dyers, card-makers.
The weaver earnings vary from Rs. 18000 to Rs. 30000 per annum.
There has been absolute decline in earnings @ at least 30% to 40% over last
10 years. A weaver who was getting Rs. 100 per day in mid -1990’s gets
Rs.60 per day now. If inflation is factored in, the decline is sharper. But today
the situation is even grimmer; a weaver gets rs.60 for a week.
Strengths:
• Traditional Value
• Availability of skilled weavers
• All the back word linkages are available
• Being a famous tourist place good Connectivity with major cities
• Existence of strong Traders Association
Weaknesses:
Opportunities:
• Brand Building
• Product diversification
• Exploration of new market
• Export
• Reduction in custom duties on Yarn
• Product/Design patenting
• Registration of Banarasi Products under Geographical Indignation
Registration Act
Threats:
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES:
Brand banaras needs to be rebuilt with a strong associations with the history
and culture of the place.
Government needs to play a major role in building a brand.just like they are
doing with the incredible india campaign they can replicate the same stuff
here too and make banaras and silk an inevitable part of Indian culture.
Foreigners often visit agra for tajmahal, the campaign should be such that
foreigners are lured to come to banaras to buy the prestigious banrasi saree.
The stalls can be put up where actual saree making goes on and the visitors
can themselves see and observe the craft of sari making in a traditional
handloom. This will project a positive picture of the weaver’s hard work and
make an impact on the consumer which will in turn lead him/her to buy the
product. This will give an impetus to motivation levels of customers.
3. Banaras can also build brand equity for non-saree products like:
5. The import of Chinese yarn must be made expensive. Govt. must take
steps to impose duties on the imported silk.
6. The support structure which are mainly cooperatives for these weavers
must ensure not only up-gradation, work shed, market assistance, export
promotion, design development and training assistance but it should also
focus on Education, health, Social security ,Relief for artisans in distress-
natural or manmade ,Women and children ,Saving and micro-credit ,Working
conditions ,Wage related mode, Wage related models and practices ,Artisan
rights and duties ,Some elements of quality of life related work, e.g.,
recreation, sport, library, personality growth.
7. The weaver is now far removed from the market in terms of access and
knowledge. It will be premature to ask him to organize credit, raw material,
production and marketing. He needs to acquire and sharpen competencies,
confidence and collective strength. There is a need to encourage either an
NGO or an activist organization to organize weavers and to enhance their
capacities. There must be a legal framework to ensure minimum deal for
weavers and unless there is capacity building, weaver will stay away from
market.
8. The numerous small players at Varanasi have not been able to come
together or pool capacity for dealing with the market or the policy
environment. This is responsible for the continued decline. These small
players can come together to form a big entity. The main merit such player
will bring in technology market and financial resources required to give a
decisive push to the cluster and be accountable for return on labour and
working condition.
But for this to succeed government has to reformulate trade strategies and
policies so that there is an open market for banarasi silk products and the
margins must go to the weavers. A detailed consumer behavior study would
lead to more valuable insights in this regard and help uplift the fate of
weavers.