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Abstract:
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one of the key sectors, identified by the
Department of Industries Government of Kerala, for the cluster development
initiative is Handloom, which gives employment to over over 50,000 people
directly. Despite its age old tradition and fame, the performance of the sector
vis-à-vis power looms is not very rosy owing to (i) competition from cheap
power loom cloth from other states (ii) scarcity of quality yarn (iii) price
escalation of yarn, dyes, chemicals and other raw materials (iv) the shrinking
market for handlooms in Kerala (v) non-demand based production and
inadequacy of new designs and (vi) inefficiencies in the system, particularly in
the co-operative sector. Cluster based approach is adopted in the handloom
sector with the objective of providing necessary support mechanism to come out of the crisis that the sector faces now. While four cluster schemes are being
implemented in Kerala, it is under IHDS-CDP that the State got a sizeable
number of clusters benefiting a large number of societies and weavers- 24
handloom clusters, bringing 152 handloom co-operative societies and over
19,800 handloom workers under the Programme.
This research attempts to revisit the underlying rationale and context of
the new direction and would attempt to broadly analyze the growth trends under
the influence of cluster model adopted by the State IHDS-CDP for the revival
of handloom sector through a detailed study of the handloom co-operative
societies in Kerala. If handloom sector in Kerala can be revived using cluster
based approach, it can be easily concluded that cluster is capable of taking the
MSME in Kerala to a ‘high growth path.’ The study is aimed at understanding
how best clusters emerge as appropriate industrial organization suitable for the
current global structure of manufacture |