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The 12th National Handloom Day will be observed on 7 August 2026 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre, New Delhi, with President Droupadi Murmu as Chief Guest.
22 awards will be conferred - 3 Sant Kabir Handloom Awards and 19 National Handloom Awards for 2025 - along with the release of four commemorative postage stamps.
National Handloom Day was instituted in 2015 and is observed on 7 August to commemorate the launch of the Swadeshi Movement on that date in 1905.
The Fourth All India Handloom Census 2019-20 counted 35.22 lakh handloom weavers and allied workers across 31.45 lakh households, of whom over 72 per cent are women.
Support runs through the National Handloom Development Programme, whose interventions have raised weaver earnings sharply - electronic jacquards lifted average monthly income from Rs 9,600 to Rs 15,000.
Integrated, need-based development of the handloom sector and the welfare of weavers, formulated for implementation from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Key: Delivered through government handloom organisations, national and State handloom corporations, weavers' cooperative societies, federations, Handloom Producer Companies and participating banks. 200 Handloom Producer Companies were formed between 2020-21 and 2026-27.
Support small handloom clusters with funding of up to Rs 2 crore each for looms, lighting, worksheds, design, product development and marketing.
Key: 357 clusters sanctioned from 2021-22 to 2026-27 (till June); Rs 94 crore released during 2025-26 for worksheds, looms and accessories, and electronic jacquards.
Give weavers and handloom organisations direct selling platforms through domestic and export promotion, Urban Haats and marketing incentives.
Key: Over 960 events organised between 2021-22 and 2026-27 (till June), including National, State and District Handloom Expos and Craft Melas. The Sant Kabir and National Handloom Awards sit under this component.
Provide handloom-sector loans on concessional terms.
Key: Loans at 6 per cent interest for three years with government interest subvention of up to 7 per cent, plus margin money assistance and coverage of credit guarantee fees, disbursed through the Handloom Weaver MUDRA Portal.
Assure weavers a supply of yarn, forming the second core operational support alongside NHDP.
Key: Works with NHDP as the sector's core support system.
Certify that a product is genuinely handwoven, protecting consumers and weavers from powerloom imitation.
Key: Launched by the Ministry of Textiles with effect from 28 June 2006 to secure a premium position for Indian handlooms in domestic and international markets.
Enacted on 29 March 1985 and in force from 31 March 1986, it empowers the Central Government to reserve articles for exclusive production on handlooms. Eleven articles are currently reserved, including sarees, dhotis, towels, bedsheets, dhurries, dress materials, blankets or kambalis, lungis, shawls or mufflers, woollen tweed and mekhala.
The statute under which regional handloom weaves are registered as Geographical Indications, tying a product's identity to its place of origin.
The nodal office implementing handloom schemes, including NHDP and the Raw Material Supply Scheme.
The administrative ministry for handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and the broader textile sector; runs the Handloom Mark and the national awards.
Member-owned, professionally managed enterprises that organise weavers collectively for production and market access; 200 were formed between 2020-21 and 2026-27.
GS Paper 1 > Indian Culture: Art Forms and Crafts; Modern Indian History: Swadeshi Movement. GS Paper 3 > Economy: Employment, MSME and Rural Livelihoods
General Awareness > Important Days, Government Schemes and Awards
General Awareness > Important Days and Schemes
General Awareness > Important Days and Current Affairs
General Knowledge > Important Days and Indian Culture
Important days with a freedom-movement link are asked almost every year in SSC, Banking and Railway exams, and handloom appears in UPSC through both art-and-culture and rural-livelihood angles.
India's highest honour for handloom weavers, carrying Rs 3.5 lakh, a mounted gold coin, a tamrapatra, a shawl and a certificate.
A digitally controlled mechanism that manipulates individual warp threads, enabling faster and more intricate weaving; raised beneficiary monthly income from Rs 9,600 to Rs 15,000.
Identity card for handloom workers enumerated in the census; the e-Pehchan portal launched in January 2025 lets new and left-out workers register.
A member-owned, professionally managed enterprise organising weavers collectively; 200 were formed between 2020-21 and 2026-27.
Certification launched with effect from 28 June 2006 attesting that a product is genuinely handwoven.
Workers in pre-loom and post-loom activities such as winding, warping, dyeing and calendaring - 8.48 lakh of the 35.22 lakh total.
An inscribed copper plate presented as part of both national handloom awards.