India Handloom Brand under Ministry of Textile - Government of India is opening up to change, focusing on sustainable growth & welfare of the weavers. Keeping this in mind, iShippo.com an online marketplace for home based business joins Development Commissioner Handloom of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, to educate, train and empower weavers to directly sell their products on the iShippo.com online portal.

The partnership allows iShippo.com to engage with weavers in Bagalkot and other clusters in the state of Karnataka. The products will carry government certified ‘India Handloom Brand’ and ‘Handloom Mark’. iShippo.com will ensure the availability of quality products to buyers across the globe.

With the support of Ministry of Textiles - Government of India; iShippo.com aims to allow technological enablement of artisans to bridge the digital divide, bring the global market at the doorstep of weavers, help weavers transform into entrepreneurs from daily wagers, initiate capacity building of the artisan community and ensure self-sustainability of clusters.

Weavers have witnessed a lot of technological advancement from PowerLooms to Computer Aided Design and Weaving. The recent advancement could dramatically impact weaving community who are already on the fringes of economic prosperity.

The Ministry of Textile understanding these challenges has entrusted companies like iShippo to curate, preserve and promote cultural heritage and livelihood of weavers by promoting the Indian Handloom Brand.

These are omnious signs for agile startups in the space like iShippo.com to come in and contribute with their technology, expertise and skills whereby they introduce better - more efficient ways of connecting buyers, sellers, artisans, weavers and the designers community. They provide artisans, craftsmen and weavers an easier access to market, access to capital, capacity building and a more sustainable means of livelihood. They can take an idea convert it into design, produce it and deliver it to the hands of buyers in one seamless transaction, informed Mr. Karma Bhutia - Founder & CEO of iShippo.com

Promotion of marketing of Handloom products through e-commerce is one of the priorities of Ministry of Textile. In order to promote e-marketing of handloom products in a transparent competitive and effective manner Textile Ministry has partnered with iShippo.com

On this occasion Mr.Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner, Handlooms Ministry of Textiles - Government of India said that IndiaHandloom Brand is a major initiative of Government of India to reposition premium and good quality handloom products for the benefit of consumers as well as weavers. They are promoting e-marketing of genuine and authentic handloom products so as to reduce intermediaries and increase the gains both for consumers and the weavers. They are happy on this association with iShippo. Niche and young enterprises are showing good results in this area.

According to Handloom Export Promotion Council, global demand for Indian Handloom is increasing due to which India exported handloom worth US$ 350 million for the FY 2014-15. India has 2.4 million looms with significant production capacity in the country. Indian handloom sector employs 4.3 million handloom weavers. The Handloom Industry is open to innovation and has the ability to adapt to changing requirements. In the past 2 years - spruced by the Make In India campaign, the evolution within the Indian Handloom Industry is visible.