As many as 28,374 artisans and 1,49,422 weavers have registered themselves on the public procurement portal GeM as of August 30, the Textiles Ministry said on Monday.
The move will help promote handloom and handicraft products with government buyers without intermediaries, it said.
It said that this will increase participation from under-served seller groups such as artisans, weavers, micro entrepreneurs, women, tribal entrepreneurs and self-help groups working in Handloom and Handicrafts, who face challenges in accessing government markets.
About 28 exclusive product categories have been created for handloom products at the portal and 170 custom product categories for handicrafts.
“Dedicated web-banners and market pages have been developed for Indian Handloom and Indian Handicrafts products to showcase high-quality handicraft and handloom products made by artisans, weavers, cooperative societies, SHGs and producer companies capable of supplying such products to various government buyers,” it added.
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This initiative is intended to provide direct market access opportunities to about 35.22 lakh handloom workers and 27 lakh handicraft artisans, simultaneously doing away with the intermediaries.
