Grant to Silk Societies/Agency — Component of the Development of Silk Scheme

What is the Grant to Silk Societies/Agency in Puducherry?

Grant to Silk Societies/Agency is a component of the Development of Silk scheme run by the District Industries Centre under the Department of Industries and Commerce, Union Territory of Puducherry. The component pays a registered silk weavers' society, cluster or agency Rs 2,00,000 per annum for five years towards its administrative and marketing expenses.

The reasoning behind the component is set out plainly by the District Industries Centre: the objective is to promote societies and agencies with silk weavers as members, so that the various schemes for the silk weaving sector can be implemented effectively. A handloom silk weaver working alone has no realistic way of reaching a buyer outside the Union Territory, negotiating yarn prices, or maintaining a display point. A registered society can do all three, but only if it can pay for a secretary, a rented office, accounting and travel. That running cost is precisely what this grant covers.

Puducherry's silk weaving is a small but distinct craft economy, and the cluster approach the Department describes is the same organising logic used for its handicrafts and coir sectors.

Who is eligible for the silk societies grant?

Bodies that can apply:

• A society or agency, not an individual.
• Registered either as a co-operative society under the Co-operative Societies Act, or under the Societies Registration Act. Either registration is acceptable; no registration at all is fatal to the claim.
• Whose members are silk weaving artisans.
• Which deals exclusively with silk products produced by artisans of the Union Territory of Puducherry.

Who is not eligible:

• Individual silk weavers. An individual artisan cannot apply for this component. The relevant route for an individual is the Grant of Margin Money for Availing the Capital Loan component of the same Development of Silk scheme, which supports setting up a silk weaving unit.
• Unregistered groups, informal collectives and self-help groups that have not been registered under either Act.
• Societies whose membership is not made up of silk weaving artisans.
• Societies or agencies that trade in silk produced outside Puducherry, since the scheme requires exclusive dealing in the Union Territory's own artisan products.
• Commercial silk traders and showroom operators with no artisan membership base.

What does the society actually receive?

The District Industries Centre describes the pattern of assistance as a grant of Rs 2.00 lakh per annum provided to the cluster, society or agency towards administrative and marketing expenses for a period of five years.

In practice, "administrative" covers the cost of running the body: office rent, staff, stationery, audit and statutory compliance. "Marketing" covers the cost of finding buyers for members' silk; participation in fairs and exhibitions, catalogues and samples, and travel to buyers. A society that plans its budget under these two heads before applying finds the process considerably smoother.

What documents are required?

Attach a passport-sized photograph of the authorised signatory where the form asks for one, signed across, and self-attest each photocopy.

How to apply for the silk 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 where required (signed across), and attach self-attested copies of all mandatory documents, registration certificate, bye-laws, member list, evidence of exclusive dealing in Puducherry silk, budget and bank details.
3. Visit the District Industries Centre at Industrial Estate, Thattanchavady, Puducherry 605009, on a working day during office hours, and submit the duly filled and signed form with enclosures to the concerned authority.
4. Collect the acknowledgement. On receipt, the office makes the necessary entries in the application receipt register and assigns a unique number to the applicant. That number identifies the society in all further references and serves as the acknowledgement of receipt.

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

How to check the status of your application

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 write to dic[dot]pon[at]nic[dot]in.
3. For grants in the second and later years of the five-year period, ask specifically whether the previous year's utilisation certificate has been accepted, since continuation depends on it.

Why silk society grant applications fail

• The society is not registered under either the Co-operative Societies Act or the Societies Registration Act. This is the single most common defect.
• Members are not silk weaving artisans, or the member list does not establish that they are.
• The society deals in silk from outside Puducherry, breaking the exclusivity condition.
• An individual applies in place of a registered body.
• No head-wise budget for administrative and marketing spending, so the Department cannot link the grant to eligible expenditure.
• The previous year's grant is unaccounted for, which stops the next instalment of a five-year grant.
• Bank account in an office-bearer's personal name rather than the society's.

How this component fits the rest of the Development of Silk scheme

Development of Silk has two published components, and they are designed to work on different actors:

A group of weavers who want both routes generally follow them in sequence. Individual members first establish their own weaving units, using the margin money grant to unlock a bank loan; the society then registers and draws the Rs 2,00,000 annual grant to market what those units produce. Applying for the society grant before there is any production to market is the most common sequencing error.

Both components are administered by the same office — the District Industries Centre at Thattanchavady, so a society can discuss both in a single visit.

What a society should prepare before applying

The grant is tied to administrative and marketing spending, and the application is materially stronger when the society can show what that spending will buy. Three things are worth preparing before the visit:

1. A membership roll that establishes the craft. Names alone are not enough; record each member's loom, the type of silk woven and how long they have practised. This is the evidence for the condition that members must be silk weaving artisans.
2. A purchase and sale trail confined to Puducherry silk. Because the society must deal exclusively with silk products produced by artisans of the Union Territory, the cleanest position is a register showing goods taken in from named member artisans and sold on, with no bought-in stock from outside.
3. A twelve-month plan under the two eligible heads. Administrative costs: office, staff, audit, statutory filings: on one side; marketing costs; exhibitions, catalogues, samples, buyer travel, on the other. Rs 2,00,000 a year is a working budget for a small society, and dividing it head-wise in advance avoids questions later.

For each subsequent year of the five-year period, the same discipline applies in reverse: the utilisation certificate should map spending back to the heads approved at the start.

Grievance redressal

The District Industries Centre publishes a Citizen's Charter at dic.py.gov.in that sets out its service standards, and grievances on this and other industries schemes are taken through the Industries and Commerce Department's grievance redressal mechanism at industry.py.gov.in/grievance-redressal-mechanism.

For anything unresolved, 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 free, and no payment to any intermediary is required to have a society's application registered.