Draft End of Project Report under the project ‘Support to Country Effort for SME Cluster Development’ of UNIDO (US/IND/01/193) during 2002-05
HANDLOOM CLUSTER OF KOTA
By: UNIDO Cluster Development Programme
November 25, 2005
1. Executive Summary
Kota Doria is one of the finest cotton–silk composite fabrics woven in Northern India. By the year 2000 around 1,500 looms could be found in the cluster, and this number was declining. The cluster consisted of both weavers and master weavers, coexisting at a “low-level” equilibrium. Production was undertaken by weavers. Master weavers, on the other hand, took care of marketing as well as raw material supply. At the time of intervention, the cluster had an estimated turnover of Rs. 20.5 million (USD 500,000). Geographically, the cluster was spread in a number of villages, with township of Kaithun as the main centre of production. The major problems of the cluster were based on technology, specifically sub-optimal pre-weaving processes like dyeing; limited market segments; constant threat of power loom duplicating the products, and lack of an institutional framework to address these developmental issues. Thus it was envisioned that “Kota Doria will revive its rich cultural heritage by offering its unique high value added fabric mainly to exporters, niche retail stores, and create a consumer awareness of its product by the year 2005.”
To start with, the benefits of cooperation were demonstrated to master weavers through joint marketing events. Soon the weavers were also exposed to this new idea of cooperation through exposure to other performing artisanal organisations. The weavers also learnt through the examples provided by the networks of master weavers. Organising the weavers for joint action was carried out through a local Non Government Organisation (NGO). As the network of weavers matured, they were also linked to niche marketing channels.
The various marketing efforts led to additional sales to the tune of Rs. 4.2 million. Of the 46 women weavers’ SHGs created, 11 SHGs came together to form an association of women weavers – Kota Women weavers Organisation. Kota Doria also earned the right to uphold its name under the terms of the Geographical Identification Act. Several technical problems of the cluster were addressed. As the entire process matured, an all weavers’ organisation was established to address various cluster issues including branding, production related infrastructure, etc. in the form of the Kota Cluster Development Coordination Committee. The Committee was also created to synergise the ongoing and would be developmental activities of the cluster. As such, it has identified and transferred land for creation of Resource Centre. A conscious attempt of linking the various emerging networks was also carried out. Organisations like Rural Non-Farm Development Agency of the Govt. of Rajasthan and the International Labour Organisation were introduced to the cluster activities. They are now carrying forward the developmental agenda charted out by the cluster stakeholders.
2. Evolution, Turning Point and Current Status
Kota Doria is one of the finest cotton–silk composite fabrics woven in Northern India. It is unique in its basic construction and uses cotton and silk yarns in a definite ratio in both warp and weft. Its existence in the Hadauti[1] region of Rajasthan has been attributed to the relatively humid geographical conditions of the area where the craft has flourished since early nineteenth century.
The craft originated from Kaithun, (now a small) town near Kota. It is said that the craft spread to nearby villages as a result of girls from Kaithun marrying in other villages. Silk got introduced in the fabric during the times of Prince Jagat Singh (late 17th century) and thereafter the cotton-silk composite structure having the square check pattern evolved. At that time Kota Doria was used as a turban cloth of 9-10 inches width. Later it got converted into a short sari or ‘odhana’[2] of 36 inches width.
The ‘odhana’, around the pre-independence period, got converted into a 46-inches wide sari, using the same loom but with greater width, maintaining the square check pattern intact. The zari[3], which earlier formed the end of the turban, started getting placed on the borders or at the pallu (end-portion) of the sari. The popularity of Kota Doria may be attributed to various factors. The ‘Oswal’ community considered the fabric ‘auspicious’ and a must for sacred and important events (e.g. marriages). This led to increased demand throughout Rajasthan and other concentrations of Oswal community in various parts of India (e.g. Kolkata). Moreover, the fabric also had a good resale value due to the pure zari.
In the post-independence period, government corporations such as RSIC, RHDC, Bunkar Sangh used to purchase the fabric in greater volumes. This led to an increase in demand for the fabric. This trend started in the 60’s and continued till the mid 70’s. By this time, the number of looms grew up to almost 5,000 and market demand started putting pressure on the weavers to produce more. A number of traders settled in Kota city from Bikaner and other parts of Western Rajasthan. They had business relations all across the country and they thus generated further demand for the fabric. However, in spite of the increase in the number of looms and the blossoming of the craft into nearby villages, demand could not be met. This led the traders to get the fabric produced in other parts of the country as well. Literary references also speak of Kota Doria being produced by weavers of various handloom centres of nearby states. But they could neither produce the right quality nor the desired quantity.
Moreover, the relative decay of handloom fascination in the early 1980s paved way for power looms to duplicate this coveted fabric in large quantities for new consumers, namely people who wanted to buy the square check pattern, but were hardly capable to recognise whether if fabric was actually woven. Moreover, the insistence of weavers to only use pure zari made the hand-woven fabric inaccessible to a large number of the consumers.
Thus, by 1985, the number of looms had decreased to about 2,000.As the centre of Kaithun graduated slowly to producing high value added saris, plain fabric weaving got pushed to the weavers of remote villages such as Roteda, Mangrol, Siswali, Kotsuwan etc. These weavers were worst hit by powerloom Kota Doria look-alikes. This downfall continued and by the mid 90’s, the number of total looms came down to about 1,700 and further to about 1,500 by the year 2000. Out of these 1,500, 1200 looms were in Kaithun. The total value of production was estimated at Rs 20.5 million (USD 500,000).
3. Choice of Cluster
India has over 300 handloom clusters. Handlooms constitute the highest source of livelihood in India after agriculture, especially to women. However, there was no previous experience of cluster development activities in this sector in India. Thus this intervention was expected to provide a pilot to understand the nuances of cluster development when applied to a handloom cluster. Again, since this cluster was on a downswing; it was felt that the learning would be significant for the overall sectoral scenario in India.
At the start of intervention, the Kota cluster was mostly spread over Kaithun and a number of other villages, where the looms were present in small numbers. Thus it was felt that to understand the complexities of such cluster, it would be worthwhile to concentrate intervention in the main center of activity, i.e. Kaithun and also to look into at least one village, namely Kotsuwan and later Mangrol.
4. Key Cluster Stakeholders and their Linkages
The key stakeholders in the cluster are weavers and master weavers. Kaithun has about 1,200 weaving families, while Kotsuwan has 35. A typical family would consist of a couple engaged in weaving. The weaver is conversant with all the activities related to weaving. Weavers receive orders and raw material for the master weaver. Some master weavers may also be themselves weavers. Moreover, apart from providing raw material they also buy back the finished products (saris). There are 47 master weavers in Kaithun who not only procure saris from the weavers of Kaithun but also from Kotsuwan and other weaving villages. They have developed contacts with the traders of Kota and other cities and sell saris through those outlets. The master weavers also give the design brief to the weavers including the desired colour, the graph of the design and other necessary instructions.
Some of the master weavers have grown big and they provide support to almost half of the looms of Kaithun. These master weavers also buy raw material at wholesale rates from the mills/ producing centres and provide the same to the smaller master weavers and the weavers attached to them. Some master weavers families have also been able to develop marketing linkages with an up-market boutique owner of New Delhi. She provides designs and colours and buys the finished product after a thorough quality check. She diversified into furnishings, ladies garments and accessories apart from saris. She has also organized fashion shows to popularize ‘Kota Doria’. Some of the smaller master weavers are also resorting to direct sales in various cities by door-to-door selling and similar small-scale direct sales efforts.
Supporting this weaving activity there are 12 raw material suppliers, one raanch (reed) maker, about 10-15 ‘raanch’ fillers, 3 graph designers in Kaithun (who also serve the Kotsuwan village), 6 dyers in Kaithun, 10-15 loom mechanics in Kaithun, etc. Usually those who do not own a loom or have poorer weaving skills are engaged in such activities. Providing the market linkages are about 50 traders of Kota. These traders sell not only Kota Doria saris but also other saris bought from Surat, Benaras, Mhow etc. For these traders, real Kota Doria fabric forms just a small fraction (estimated to be about 2%) of their total merchandise.
The other stakeholders of the cluster include the banks, financial institutions like National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and the government organisations such as Rural Non Farm Development Agency (RUDA), Rajasthan Handloom Development Corporation (RHDC), Weavers Service Centre (WSC), etc. There are 2 informal associations one each for the weavers and master weavers. There are no active cooperative societies in the cluster.
The cluster map prior to intervention appears as Annex 1.
5. Major Problems
Marketing: Marketing was the major issue for the cluster. The master weavers used to sit upon unsold stocks and total sales were declining over years. Moreover, there was a rising sales of fake Kota Doria by powerlooms. The marketing channels were limited in the form of DTDS[4] and Kota traders and government organised fair-based sales. The necessary design creation and targeted marketing was also missing.
Technology: In this field, the problems were identified with respect to sub-optimal pre-weaving processes including dyeing as also weaving technology. For example the peg-warping technique was a problem in the rainy season. Colour bleeding and improper colour matching was also an issue. These features not only limited export potential but also posed a basic problem in mainstreaming the fabric and increasing its sales volumes in any segment of consumer. The looms were old and used the most primitive technology – throw shuttle looms. Again these looms were mostly of 46’’ width and were suited for sarees. Modern-age fabric like dupatta[5] cannot be efficiently produced on such loom.
Lack of institutional framework: The two associations of master weavers and weavers were mainly involved in to wage negotiation and checking the quality of zari, and thus provided little scope for any common developmental agenda. Addressing issues related to protection of Intellectual Property Right (IPR), technology development and trade related infrastructure was time consuming and would require prolonged intervention beyond the Project. But the cluster did not have effective institutional framework to address these issues over a longer time horizon.
6. Vision for the Cluster
Based on discussions with the stakeholders, the following vision for the cluster evolved over a period of time: “Kota Doria will revive its rich cultural heritage by offering its unique high value added fabric mainly to exporters, niche retail stores, and create a consumer awareness of its product by the year 2005.”
7. Implementation Strategy
The cluster consisted of both weavers and master weavers coexisting at a “low-level” equilibrium with production by weavers and marketing as well as raw material supply by the master weavers. It was felt that, to start with, the benefits of cooperation would need to be demonstrated to master weavers, without disturbing the existing social and political equilibrium. This objective would be met by linking newly created networks of master weavers with exporters and boutique owners. Simultaneously, weavers wuold be exposed to this new idea of cooperation through exposure to other performing networked organisations and demonstration through the performance of the networks of master weavers. In this effort, the weavers would be organised through a local NGO[6]. As the network of weavers mature, they would be linked to niche marketing channels. Given the underemployment of weaving capacity of the weavers, it was felt that instead of the male weavers, who were already in sub-contracting relationship with the master weavers, women weavers may be organised to test out new areas of co-operation. This would lead to empowerment within the weaving community. Simultaneously various technical problems would also be addressed. As the entire process mature, an all stakeholders organisation would need to be created to address cluster-level issues such as, for example, branding and production related infrastructure. Given the short duration it was felt that the above vision could not be fully realised. Thus a conscious attempt would need to be made to link the various networks.