The Prime Minister, on a two-day visit to Varanasi after laying the foundation stone of the Trade Facilitation Centre and Crafts Museum, and inaugurating the Powerloom Service Centre, made a strong pitch for re-establishing the district’s traditional textile industry and placing it on the global map.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi said that the government is working towards revitalising the textile sector through a scientific approach, coupled with infusion of appropriate technology.

He called upon the textile industry to adapt to the changing demands and needs of customers and create new products. The upcoming Centre would encapsulate the heritage of Varanasi at one place. Modi also called upon the people of Varanasi to use e-commerce and strategically tap the global market.

Modi said that every mother wants to gift a Banarasi saree to her daughter for her wedding, this has given an assured market of crores of sarees for Varanasi. The requirement now is to meet this demand and satisfy the customer with modern design, products and service.

Modi invoking the "Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb" (symbolising communal harmony) as Varanasi's heritage, said that the textile workers do not just weave cloth; but through the harmonious nature of their workplace, they also weave the fabric of a unified, harmonious society.

The Government to ensure easy availability of credit to the lower and middle-class and help revive the handloom and powerloom sectors has recent taken decision for a Rs. 2,375-crore revival package for district cooperative banks, of which 16 are in eastern Uttar Pradesh.