This Industry has a special significance in poverty alleviation as it is labor intensive, less strenuous, requires less capital and has a good market thereby generating sizeable employment in the rural areas.

Women take up activities like Silkworm rearing, Silk reeling/spinning and Weaving in their own houses, enabling and empowering them to generate income while catering to household activities at the same time.

The Department of Textiles has initiated several schemes to promote this industry. Through the Cluster Development Programme, 72 Handloom sectors have been setup in every district. This programme covers 5307 weavers.

Weavers are encouraged to form Self Help Groups, who are given Financial Assistance, thus enhancing the productivity of Handloom Fabrics.

128 Graduates from Handloom Training Institute, Indian Institute of Handloom Technology & National Institution of Fashion Technology have been engaged as Cluster Development Executives & Textile Designers.

The Integrated Textile Tourism Complex (Nongpoh) is an emerging project that aims to leverage Textile based Tourism by setting up Traditional lodging and emporiums for showcasing and marketing the diverse & rich handloom products of the State.