Nethanna Bharosa (Andhra Pradesh)

What is Nethanna Bharosa?

Nethanna Bharosa is an annual income support scheme of the Handlooms and Textiles Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, for handloom weaver families. The scheme pays Rs 25,000 a year by Direct Benefit Transfer to each registered weaver family that owns a loom, and adds free electricity for the loom itself.

Nethanna is Telugu for weaver and bharosa means assurance, so readers often search for it as "Nethanna Bharosa", "Nethannaku Bharosa" or "AP weaver Rs 25000 scheme". The scheme was rolled out around National Handloom Day, 7 August, when the Chief Minister announced an increase of Rs 1,000 over the Rs 24,000 that had been paid under the predecessor scheme, YSR Nethanna Nestham. Nethanna Bharosa is therefore best understood as the continuation and enhancement of that earlier weaver payment rather than an entirely new programme.

According to reporting on the launch, about 54,000 eligible weavers across the state are covered, and the state government earmarked about Rs 250 crore in the budget for the scheme.

Why the scheme exists

Handloom weaving in Andhra Pradesh; in Chirala, Mangalagiri, Venkatagiri, Dharmavaram, Uppada and Ponduru among others; is a household industry where the loom sits in the weaver's own home. The weaver buys yarn upfront, weaves for weeks, and only gets paid when the cloth sells. Working capital, not demand, is the binding constraint. An annual lump sum before the season allows the family to buy yarn and dye without borrowing at moneylender rates, and free power removes a fixed monthly cost that falls due whether or not the cloth sells.

What the package contains

• Rs 25,000 a year per weaver family, paid by DBT.
• Free power to 200 units a month for handlooms and 500 units for powerlooms.
• 5% GST reimbursement on handloom products.
• An artisan welfare fund of Rs 5 crore announced alongside the scheme.
• Five new handloom clusters planned, with an investment of about Rs 74 crore intended to support over 11,000 women weavers.

Who is eligible for Nethanna Bharosa?

You can be included if:

• You are a handloom weaver family in Andhra Pradesh.
• You are registered with the state Handlooms and Textiles Department or with APCO, the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society.
• You own the loom you work on. The scheme is written around loom-owning weaver households.
• You can produce valid proof of weaver status, a weaver identity card, handloom census record or primary cooperative society membership card.
• Your family has not already drawn the benefit through another member, since the payment is one per family.

You are not eligible if:

• You do not own a loom and work only on wages on another person's loom. The main Rs 25,000 benefit is tied to loom ownership.
• You are an unregistered weaver with no record in the department's or APCO's weaver register.
• Another member of your family has already been paid for the year.
• You are an allied handloom worker, a yarn winder, warper, sizer or dyer. About 10,000 such workers were identified after launch and a proposal to extend the scheme to them was submitted to government; until that approval is notified, they remain outside the main benefit.
• You are not resident in Andhra Pradesh.

The loom-ownership condition is the practical dividing line. Where a family works on a master weaver's looms, the family does not qualify on its own account even though it does the weaving.

What documents are required for Nethanna Bharosa?

How to apply for Nethanna Bharosa

Families already on the weaver register do not have to apply at all. The annual payment is released automatically to the registered account. The steps below are for a weaver who is not yet registered.

1. Check whether you are already registered. Ask at your primary weavers' cooperative society or the district Handlooms and Textiles Department office whether your family appears on the weaver register with a loom recorded against it.
2. Collect the registration application form from the district Handlooms and Textiles Department office or the nearest APCO office. There is no dedicated online application portal for this scheme.
3. Fill the form and attach the documents — weaver identity proof, loom ownership record, Aadhaar, ration card, bank passbook and residence proof.
4. Submit the form at the same office and collect the acknowledgement with the reference number.
5. Let the field inspection happen. A department official verifies that the loom exists at the address given and that the family is actively weaving.
6. Confirm your bank details are Aadhaar-seeded, because the annual amount is released purely by DBT and a non-seeded account will hold it.
7. Watch for the announcement around 7 August, when the year's disbursement is released to registered families.

How much does Nethanna Bharosa pay and when?

Nethanna Bharosa pays Rs 25,000 per weaver family per year. Reporting on the scheme describes the amount being released in instalments through DBT, with the main announcement made on National Handloom Day, 7 August.

The Rs 25,000 figure represents a Rs 1,000 increase over the Rs 24,000 paid under YSR Nethanna Nestham, the scheme that ran until the change of government in 2024. Readers who received Rs 24,000 in earlier years and Rs 25,000 later are looking at the same benefit under a new name and a slightly higher rate, not at two separate entitlements.

Alongside the cash, the free-power component removes the loom's monthly electricity bill up to 200 units for a handloom and 500 units for a powerloom, which for a household loom is normally the whole bill.

How to check your Nethanna Bharosa status

1. Ask at the district Handlooms and Textiles Department office, which holds the weaver register and the disbursement list for the district.
2. Ask at your primary weavers' cooperative society or the local APCO office, where the society-level list is maintained.
3. Check your bank passbook or SMS alerts for the DBT credit. No separate sanction letter is posted to weaver families.
4. Call 1902, the state Sachivalayam helpline, or ask at your Grama or Ward Sachivalayam for help tracing a missing payment.

Why a weaver family may not receive Nethanna Bharosa

• Not on the weaver register. The most common reason, and the one that needs a fresh registration rather than a grievance.
• No loom recorded against the family, so the loom-ownership condition fails.
• A second claim from the same family, which is removed under the one-per-family rule.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, which stops the DBT even after the family is listed.
• Name mismatch between the weaver identity card, Aadhaar and the bank account.
• Allied handloom work only; winding, warping or dyeing rather than weaving on an owned loom.

Help and grievance redressal

• District Handlooms and Textiles Department office, the primary authority for weaver registration and for disputes about inclusion in the list.
• APCO offices, for weavers who work through the cooperative structure.
• Sachivalayam helpline 1902, for general help tracing a state welfare payment.
• Assistant Director of Handlooms and Textiles for the district. The departmental escalation where the local office does not resolve a claim.

Registration on the weaver register is free. No fee is payable to be included in the Nethanna Bharosa list, and no cooperative society official or agent is entitled to a share of the Rs 25,000.