Selling Machine Made Products As Handmade Will Be Penalised

Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal warned of firm action against those selling machine-made products under the ‘Handmade in India’ label.

Piyush Goyal said this during his interaction with beneficiaries of the textile sector and urged them to be vocal for local and take local to global.

Also present during the interaction were Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh and officials of the Ministry of Textiles.

Nearly 10,000 beneficiaries under different sectors including Handloom, Handicraft, Jute, Silk and Samarth across the country from 398 centres participated in the interaction.

A total of 24 beneficiaries from 12 different locations individually interacted with the minister and shared their experiences on benefits being received through various schemes.

Goyal further noted that ramping up textile production in the country will spur income, open up employment opportunities and play a vital role in making the country ‘Atmanirbhar’.

The Minister urged the artisans and weavers to register their businesses on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and said that they could do so without any registration fee.

“Registering on the e-marketplace will boost the visibility of artisans and help promote businesses enhancing their income,” Goyal added.

He further said that the ministry would try to facilitate the GeM-registered businesses to be onboarded on major ecommerce websites and push for registering their businesses on foreign websites.

The union minister noted that the support of the officials to the handicraft and handloom businesses, especially small enterprises, would help them create an identity through their craft on the GeM website.

With a emphasis on promoting ‘Made in India’ initiative, Goyal urged officials to devise ways for handicraft beneficiaries to gain from ‘Handmade in India’ label and earn more income on their products.

He urged the textile sector to collectively work towards technological innovation that would ease the lives of the artisans and weavers and provide an impetus to their income.

He thanked the beneficiaries for safeguarding the cultural heritage of the nation and hailed women’s contribution to the textile sector.