Handloom Rebate Scheme

What is the Gujarat Handloom Rebate Scheme?

The Handloom Rebate Scheme is a sales-support measure run by the Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries, Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme lets registered handloom cooperative societies sell handloom cloth at a discount during festival periods and then have that discount reimbursed by the state, so the society's realisation is protected while the buyer pays less.

Handloom Rebate Scheme addresses a specific commercial problem. Handloom cloth costs more to make than powerloom or mill cloth because the labour is human and slow. At full price it loses shelf competition to machine-made fabric during exactly the weeks when families buy most; Navratri, Diwali, weddings, and other festival periods. A price rebate closes that gap at the counter, and the state absorbs the difference rather than the weaver.

According to the scheme listing, the structure has three parts:

• A 10% special rebate on sales across 120 festival days in the year.
• A permanent rebate of 5% on regular, non-festival sales.
• Enhanced rates for women-led cooperatives; 20% during the festival days and 15% as the permanent rebate.

Alongside the rebate, the programme provides e-voucher toolkit distribution and gives priority to SC, ST and BPL artisans.

The overall aim stated by the Commissionerate is to improve the market competitiveness of Gujarat's handloom cooperatives and apex societies while the benefit reaches the weaving artisans behind them.

Who is eligible for the Handloom Rebate Scheme?

A body can claim the rebate if:

• It is a registered cooperative society, an apex handloom institution, or a women-led handloom group.
• It produces handloom products, the goods sold under rebate must be genuine handloom output, not powerloom or traded cloth.
• It has obtained prior rebate certification from the Commissionerate before the discounted sales are made.

The following cannot claim the rebate:

• Individual handloom weavers selling on their own account. The claim runs through the society that makes the sale, and a weaver who is not a member of a registered society has no route into this scheme.
• Powerloom units and textile traders. Only handloom production qualifies.
• Unregistered groups. A self-help group that has not been registered as a cooperative society or recognised as an apex institution is not eligible.
• Societies that discounted first and applied afterwards. Prior certification is a condition, not a formality, and retrospective claims are the most common cause of rejection.

The enhanced 20% festival and 15% permanent rates are not open to every society — they require certification that the cooperative is women-led. Attach that certification if you are claiming the higher slab; without it the claim will be settled at the standard 10% and 5%.

How much does the rebate come to?

Because the rebate is a percentage of sales rather than a fixed grant, the amount a society receives depends entirely on its turnover during the notified period. A women-led society that turns over Rs 10,00,000 across the 120 festival days is claiming reimbursement on the 20% it discounted at the counter.

Settlement is made by Direct Benefit Transfer to the society's bank account, which is why the bank details submitted with the claim must be current and in the society's registered name.

What documents does a society need?

Every uploaded document must carry the corresponding document number entered in the form field beside it. The e-Kutir form validates this, and a missing number blocks the tab from saving.

How to apply for the Handloom Rebate Scheme on e-Kutir

1. Register on e-Kutir. Open e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in and, in the right pane of the landing page, click "For New Individual Registration, click Here". Fill the mandatory fields; full name in English, Aadhaar number, gender, date of birth, mobile number, email and a password; enter the captcha and click Register. Confirm the details in the pop-up. Your user ID and password arrive by SMS, and by email if you supplied one.
2. Log in and complete your profile. Return to the landing page, enter your user ID, password and the captcha in the Login to Portal box, and click Login. On first login the portal requires you to complete the User Profile with your personal and organisational details. Fields filled at registration cannot be changed later; everything else can be edited from View Profile.
3. Select the scheme. After the profile is complete, the homepage lists the schemes relevant to you. Click Handloom Rebate Scheme to open its multi-tab application form.
4. Fill each tab and upload documents. Complete every mandatory field, upload the registration certificate, sales invoices, rebate certification and bank details in the specified format and size, and enter the document number beside each upload. Click Save & Next to move through the tabs.
5. Review and declare. On the final review, correct anything wrong, then tick the checkbox accepting the terms and conditions, the declaration and the privacy policy.
6. Submit and record the number. Clicking Save & Next on the last tab generates an application number displayed on screen. Note it down, and use Print Application if you want a hard copy.

If you do not want to continue mid-way, click Cancel. If the application is later returned for revision, a Modify button appears against it so you can edit and resubmit through the same login.

How to check your application status

1. Open the Application Status page on e-Kutir.
2. Enter the application number of the scheme.
3. Enter the registered user's date of birth.
4. Click View Status.

The status view is also where a returned application first shows up, so check it periodically rather than waiting to be contacted.

Common reasons a rebate claim fails

• No prior rebate certification. Sales discounted before the Commissionerate sanctioned the rebate are not reimbursed. This is the single biggest cause of rejected claims.
• Sales fall outside the 120 notified festival days. Only sales within the notified window attract the 10% or 20% special rebate; everything else is limited to the permanent rebate slab.
• The women-led certification is missing but the higher slab has been claimed.
• Invoices do not reconcile with the claim total, or invoice numbers are not in sequence.
• Document numbers not entered against uploads, leaving the form incomplete.
• Non-handloom goods included in the sales statement.
• Bank account name mismatch between the society's registration and the passbook, which stops the DBT even after sanction.

Key dates to watch

Handloom Rebate Scheme is built around the 120 notified festival days in a year, which is the only real deadline in the programme. The Commissionerate notifies these dates, and they cluster around Navratri, Diwali and the wedding season. Two practical rules follow:

• Obtain rebate certification well before the festival period starts, not during it.
• File the reimbursement claim with complete invoices soon after the rebate period, since claims are settled against the financial year's provision running 1 April to 31 March.

Where to get help or complain

• e-Kutir helpdesk: 9909926280 or 9909926180.
• District Industries Centre (DIC) of your district. The field office for all cottage and rural industry schemes, and the right place for questions about certification and invoice verification.
• Commissioner of Cottage and Rural Industries, Gandhinagar, through cottage.gujarat.gov.in.

No fee is charged for registering on e-Kutir or for filing a rebate claim, and no officer will ask for your portal password.

A note on scope

Handloom Rebate Scheme is an institutional scheme, not a personal benefit. An individual weaver cannot apply for a payment into their own account under it. The realistic route for a weaver is to join or form a registered handloom cooperative society, after which the society claims the rebate and the weaver benefits through better and faster sales, plus the toolkit distribution and the SC / ST / BPL artisan priority built into the programme.