The Dhapewada Textile Udyog Producer Company Ltd building will be inaugurated on October 17 by Union textiles minister Giriraj Singh and Mathura MP Hema Malini, in a move aimed at supporting the area’s traditional weaving community and expanding the reach of Vidarbha’s handloom products.
The inauguration at Dhapewada, associated with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, will include a fashion show featuring local women weavers and models. The event will showcase Karvatkathi tussar silk sarees, which the company says are associated with the region and have received a Geographical Indication tag.
The company was conceptualised by Gadkari to support traditional weavers in Dhapewada. According to Sudhir Dive, one of its directors, the initiative is intended to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for women in the area. The company has been providing training in handloom weaving, after which participants can produce sarees and other items for income.
“Women are given 45 days of handloom and weaving training, following which they can make sarees and other products to earn livelihood. We have completed 12 batches so far,” Dive said, according to the Times of India report.
The unit currently has 50 active handlooms producing Karvatkathi sarees made from tussar silk. Each saree takes about 10 days to weave and weighs approximately 600 grams. The company plans to make the sarees available to customers for Rs 400, although Dive said their market value is around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
The new building covers 13,000 square feet and is expected to accommodate about 100 staff members. Its planned role extends beyond production, with the company also looking to create a wider market for handloom and handicraft products from Vidarbha.
A dedicated space for local handloom and handicraft products is being developed on the third floor of the new Agrovision building in Jai Prakash Nagar. The space is intended to provide another outlet for regional products and connect local producers with customers beyond Dhapewada.
Support for the traditional weaving industry began in earnest after Gadkari took charge of the MSME ministry in 2019, the report said. The Dhapewada unit now combines training, production and retail promotion within a single institutional effort focused on sustaining local weaving livelihoods.
The October 17 inauguration and the opening of the new building will mark the next public milestone for the company, while the planned product space at Agrovision is expected to support the broader distribution of Vidarbha’s handloom and handicraft goods.
