West Bengal Handloom and Khadi Weavers Financial Benefit Scheme, 2024

What is the West Bengal Handloom and Khadi Weavers Financial Benefit Scheme, 2024?

West Bengal Handloom and Khadi Weavers Financial Benefit Scheme, 2024 is a state scheme of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise and Textiles Department, notified on 7 March 2024 and in force for five years. The Directorate of Textiles runs it. The scheme has two distinct halves: direct assistance to individual handloom weavers, and a financial rescue package for Primary Weavers Cooperative Societies (PWCS) that are carrying bad loans.

West Bengal has one of the largest handloom bases in India: Santipur, Phulia, Dhaniakhali, Begampur, Samudragarh, Tangail and the Murshidabad silk belt among them. The industry's structural problem for decades has been that primary weavers societies borrowed from cooperative banks, could not repay, were classified as non-performing, and then could not borrow again for working capital. The 2024 scheme attacks that directly.

The five components of the scheme

1. One Time Settlement of NPA accounts of PWCS. The state pays 100 per cent of the overdue principal and 25 per cent of the overdue interest, and the bank writes off the remaining 75 per cent of the interest.
2. One-time financial assistance to viable and potentially viable PWCS; Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh depending on the level of activity and turnover.
3. One-time financial assistance to individual handloom weavers: Rs 5,000 for shed and loom repair plus Rs 10,000 for raw material.
4. Supply of yarn at a subsidised rate — a 10 per cent concession on the purchase price of yarn for handloom societies through Tantuja, and roving for khadi societies through the West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board.
5. Supply of yarn to individual weavers, extending the same channel to weavers outside the cooperative fold.

Who is eligible for the Handloom and Khadi Weavers scheme?

Individual weavers can claim if:

• The applicant is a handloom weaver in West Bengal.
• The applicant is not covered by any Primary Weavers Cooperative Society, since the individual grant is aimed at weavers outside the cooperative fold.
• The applicant is enrolled on the State Portal for Artisans and Weavers at artisan.wb.gov.in.

The scheme notification recognises three broad classes of handloom weaver: Type I entrepreneurs and master weavers, Type II individual weavers and allied workers such as warpers, dyers and sizers, and Type III cooperative members and cluster-based weavers.

Societies can claim if:

• The body is a registered Primary Weavers Cooperative Society, or a khadi society registered under a cooperative or equivalent framework.
• The society is assessed as viable or potentially viable by the district level committee, for the Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh assistance.
• For the one-time settlement, the society holds a non-performing loan account with the West Bengal State Cooperative Bank or a district central cooperative bank.

You are not eligible if:

• You are an artisan who is not a handloom or khadi weaver. Potters, weavers of cane and bamboo, metal workers and other craftspeople must apply under the West Bengal Artisans Financial Benefit Scheme, 2024 instead.
• You are a weaver already inside a cooperative society and are claiming the individual weaver grant meant for those outside it.
• The society is defunct rather than viable or potentially viable, in which case the district committee will not recommend the assistance component.
• You have already drawn the same component under the scheme, since the individual assistance is one time.

How much is paid, and for what?

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Handloom and Khadi Weavers Financial Benefit Scheme

1. Enrol on the State Portal for Artisans and Weavers at artisan.wb.gov.in if you have not already done so. Individual weaver claims are checked against this enrolment.
2. Download the prescribed application format from the Directorate of Textiles website at handloom.wb.gov.in, or collect it from the district handloom office.
3. Fill in the form with the weaver's or society's details, the component being claimed, and the bank account into which the assistance should be credited.
4. Attach the supporting papers, identity and residence proof, bank passbook copy, and for a society the registration certificate, audited accounts and, where the one-time settlement is claimed, the bank statement of the NPA account.
5. Submit the application to the Director of Textiles, online or offline in the prescribed format, through the district handloom office.
6. The district level committee scrutinises the claim, making a field inquiry where necessary, and recommends it.
7. The state level committee gives final approval, after which the assistance is released to the bank account of the weaver or the society.

For the yarn component, place your yarn requirement through Tantuja, the West Bengal State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society, to get the 10 per cent concession. Khadi societies route roving requirements through the West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board.

How to track your claim

1. Follow up with the district handloom office that forwarded your application, since the district level committee sits there.
2. After the district committee recommends the case, the file moves to the state level committee under the Directorate of Textiles. Ask the district office for the date the file was forwarded.
3. Check handloom.wb.gov.in for scheme notices, the annexure formats and the settlement forms published by the Directorate of Textiles.
4. Bangla Sahayata Kendra counters at bsk.wb.gov.in help weavers with portal enrolment and with filling the online form free of charge.

Why claims get rejected

• No enrolment on the state artisan and weaver portal.
• Wrong scheme, an artisan applying here instead of under the Artisans Financial Benefit Scheme, 2024.
• Cooperative member claiming the individual grant reserved for weavers outside the cooperative fold.
• Society not assessed as viable or potentially viable by the district committee.
• NPA figures not matching the bank record, so the one-time settlement amount cannot be computed.
• Yarn bought outside Tantuja where the raw material component is claimed.
• Bank details incorrect, or an account not in the weaver's or society's own name.

Fixing the defect and asking the district office to place the corrected file before the next committee is faster than starting a fresh application.

Where to get help

• District handloom office or District Industries Centre in your district, the first point of contact for both individual and society claims.
• Directorate of Textiles, Department of MSME and Textiles, Government of West Bengal, at handloom.wb.gov.in, which publishes the scheme notification, the application formats and the settlement annexures.
• Tantuja for yarn supply at the concessional rate, and the West Bengal Khadi and Village Industries Board for roving supply to khadi societies.
• Bangla Sahayata Kendra at bsk.wb.gov.in for free help with the online application.

Applying is free of cost. The assistance is credited only to the weaver's or the society's own bank account, never through an intermediary.