Grant to Handicrafts Societies — Component of the Development of Handicrafts Scheme

What is the Grant to Handicrafts Societies in Puducherry?

Grant to Handicrafts Societies is a component of the Development of Handicrafts scheme of the Department of Industries and Commerce, Union Territory of Puducherry, administered through the District Industries Centre. The District Industries Centre explains the purpose plainly: the creation of handicrafts societies is encouraged in order to bring coordination and dexterity among craftspersons, and grants are provided to such societies so that they can organise or participate in exhibitions and develop the marketing of handicraft products.

The pattern of assistance has two tiers:

The two-tier design reflects two different jobs. Conducting an exhibition; booking a venue, building stalls, publicising it, drawing buyers; is an expensive undertaking, and the scheme funds one named society, PUDUMAI, to do it at Rs 10 lakh a year. Participating in someone else's exhibition is far cheaper, and Rs 2 lakh a year covers a society's stall rent and travel for a season of fairs.

Puducherry's crafts are the reason the machinery exists. The District Industries Centre lists the crafts practised in the Union Territory as including stone carving, pith craft, wood carving, serpentine stone carving, terracotta, Tanjore painting, leather goods, crochet, papier mâché, sea shell items, palm leaf articles, embroidery and appliqué work, mat weaving, jute crafts, pottery and clay toys, cloth and stuffed dolls, decorative wax candles, hand knitted hammocks, cane and bamboo, glazed art pottery, dry flowers, jute and paper lamp shades, wire craft and fibre craft.

Who is eligible for the handicrafts societies grant?

Bodies that can apply:

• A handicrafts society registered either as a co-operative society or under the Societies Registration Act.
• Whose members are artisans approved either by the State Government or by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts). Approval of the artisans, not merely their skill, is the test.
• Which deals only with handicraft products produced by artisans of the Union Territory of Puducherry.

Who is not eligible:

• Individual craftspersons. Individuals cannot apply for this grant. An individual artisan with a handicrafts unit in Puducherry should use the Exhibition component of the same Development of Handicrafts scheme, which pays travelling allowance and a daily allowance for exhibition participation.
• Unregistered groups, informal collectives and associations without registration under either route.
• Societies whose members are not approved artisans.
• Societies that deal in handicrafts made outside Puducherry, which breaks the exclusivity condition.
• Commercial handicraft retailers and export houses with no artisan membership.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the handicrafts societies grant

1. Print the prescribed application form from the application forms download area at dic.py.gov.in/application-forms-download-area.
2. Fill in all mandatory fields, paste the passport-sized photograph of the authorised signatory where required (signed across), and set out the exhibition the society intends to conduct or join, with dates and a cost estimate.
3. Attach self-attested copies of all mandatory documents: registration certificate, bye-laws, member list with artisan approval details, evidence of dealing exclusively in Puducherry handicrafts, the exhibition proposal, and bank details.
4. Visit the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009, on a working day during office hours — phone +91-413-2248391, 2249392 or 2248987, email dic_pdy@bsnl.in, and submit the duly filled and signed form with enclosures.
5. Collect the acknowledgement. On receipt, the office makes entries in the application receipt register and assigns a unique number to the applicant, which identifies the society in all further references.

Societies in Karaikal can approach the Functional Manager, District Industries Centre, Rural Industrial Estate, Kottucherry, Karaikal 609609, on +91-4368-266467.

How the grant works in practice

For a society drawing the Rs 2,00,000 annual grant, the money is normally consumed by three heads: stall rent at the fairs the society joins, transport of members' goods to and from the venue, and travel and stay of the members who attend. A society that plans a season of three or four exhibitions and budgets under those heads before applying will find the file moves smoothly.

For PUDUMAI, the Rs 10,00,000 grant funds the conduct of exhibitions. The society is on the organising side, carrying venue, publicity and infrastructure costs.

Because the grant to other societies runs for five years, continuation depends on accounting properly for the previous year. Keep receipts for every head of expenditure and file the utilisation certificate promptly.

How to check your application status

1. Quote the unique application number assigned when the form was received.
2. Contact the General Manager, District Industries Centre, Thattanchavady, on +91-413-2248391, 2248987 or 2249392, or email dic[dot]pon[at]nic[dot]in.
3. For a second or later year of the five-year grant, ask specifically whether the previous year's utilisation certificate has been accepted, since the next release depends on it.

Why handicrafts society grant applications fail

• The society is not registered as a co-operative society or under the Societies Registration Act.
• Members are not approved artisans under the State Government or the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).
• The society deals in handicrafts from outside Puducherry.
• An individual craftsperson applies under a component meant for societies.
• No concrete exhibition proposal, so the grant cannot be linked to a purpose.
• Previous year's grant unaccounted for, which blocks the next instalment.
• Bank account held in an office-bearer's personal name rather than the society's.

How this component fits the wider Development of Handicrafts scheme

Development of Handicrafts operates on three levels, and a craft community usually touches all of them over time:

Read together, the sequence is deliberate: train the artisan, get their work in front of buyers, organise them into a society that can sustain that market access, and support them in old age. The societies grant is the component that holds the middle of that chain together, because an individual artisan sponsored to one exhibition a year has no continuity. A society with a Rs 2,00,000 annual budget can maintain a presence across a season.

What a society should prepare before applying

The application succeeds or fails on three sets of papers, and it is worth assembling them before visiting the District Industries Centre:

1. Proof of registration and current standing. The registration certificate under the Co-operative Societies Act or the Societies Registration Act, plus the latest list of office-bearers and evidence that returns are up to date. A lapsed registration is fatal.
2. Artisan approval evidence for the membership. Members must be artisans approved by the State Government or by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts). Collect the approval or identity card numbers member by member rather than asserting the fact in the covering letter.
3. A concrete exhibition plan. Which fairs, on what dates, at what stall cost, with how many members travelling and what goods. Since the grant exists to enable societies to organise or participate in exhibitions, a plan makes the link the Department needs to see.

For the second and later years of the five-year grant, add the utilisation certificate and audited accounts for the previous year. Continuation is not automatic; it follows proper accounting for what was released before.

Grievance redressal

The District Industries Centre publishes a Citizen's Charter at dic.py.gov.in setting out its service standards. Grievances go through the Industries and Commerce Department's grievance redressal mechanism at industry.py.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism, and escalate to the Director, Directorate of Industries and Commerce, Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009, on +91-413-2248476, and thereafter to the Secretary to Government (Industries and Commerce), Chief Secretariat, Puducherry 605001, on +91-413-2336115.

The application form is a free download, and no payment to any intermediary is required to have a society's application registered at the District Industries Centre.