Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has increased interest-free bank loan given to weavers to meet their working capital needs under the Bunakar Assistance for Livelihood And Income Augmentation (BALIA) scheme from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
According to sources, the proposal of the Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts department to hike the amount received the approval of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Under the scheme, weavers and handloom artisans can avail working capital as per their requirements to the maximum limit of Rs 1 lakh from a bank at zero interest.
The scheme, launched by the state government in 2021, is being implemented in both urban and rural areas. It seeks to plug the current gap faced by weavers and ancillary workers by providing them adequate and timely assistance from banking institutions to meet their credit requirement for working capital in a flexible manner.
As per Handloom Census 2019-20, there are 66,141 weavers’ households with a total of 1,24,084 workforce and 56,569 looms in the state. The decision to increase the loan amount was taken in view of rise in the cost of raw materials, the sources added.
