Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has decided that the government will bear the GST on handloom textiles so as to provide more support to weavers in the state. He announced that 200 units of free electricity will be provided to looms and 500 units to power looms and a fund will be set up for weavers. He instructed the officials to implement the decisions from National Handloom Day.
Conducting a review on the handloom sector, he decided to provide 200 units of free electricity to looms and up to 500 units to power looms. He instructed the officials to immediately start the process to this end. The review decided to fulfill the election promise made regarding GST on handloom textiles.
Chandrababu announced that the state government will bear the GST on handloom textiles in full. Officials explained to the Chief Minister that these decisions will boost the handloom sector and handloom textiles will be available at low prices. He said that the sales of handlooms will increase and the weavers will benefit.
Chandrababu suggested setting up a thrift fund with Rs. 5 crore for handloom workers. He directed that these decisions be implemented from the National Handloom Day on the 7th of this month. Officials showed CM Chandrababu the 10 national awards received for handloom products from AP.
The coalition government will provide free electricity to handlooms. Up to 500 units will be provided for power looms and 200 units for handlooms. To this extent, Rs. 125 crore will be spent. This will benefit families with 50,000 looms and 15,000 spinning looms. This decision will benefit 93,000 handloom families across the state.
A special provision has been brought so that beneficiaries who use more than the current allowed by the government will not lose the subsidy amount. According to this, if the handloom families consume more than 200 units, the government will bear the bill up to 200 units. However, for the additional units consumed, the consumers will have to pay the charges as per the DISCOM tariff. The same rule applies to powerlooms if they exceed 500 units.