Reviewing Indian handicraft industry via tech-based solutions

Abstract

India’s handicraft industry 1s the source of livelihood for 200 Mn+ artisans across India. The industry has been on the declining trend recently, with minuscule aah me ° export growth in the last five years. The lack of technology adaption and market intelligence are among the foremost hindrances hampering the progress of the artisan industry. We studied ‘Surat Zari’ and ‘Banarasi Saree’ comprehensively and then identified and located significant challenges present across the value chain of artisan industry with possible first-order and second-order implications. We categorized value-chain constraints in two parts, the supply and demand side, and attempted to tackle both separately through primary and secondary research. We concluded that cooperatives and governments could only resolve the supply side constraints as the risk involved is too high for a private player with little or no incentives. However, unlike the dairy industry, where government cooperatives also cater to daman aspects of the value chain, artisan cooperatives cannot do the same due to their inherent structure. We discuss this in particulars and then propose two tech-based solutions with the involvement of private players to resolve the demand side challenges faced by artisans. We depict the value addition at each stage of the value chain of the proposed 2 tech solutions, clearly laying out the incentives for both artisans and private players. In the end, we examine the critical existing government policies aimed at reviving the artisan industry. We identified the gaps between the existing government policies and the need of the artisans. We conclude the paper by listing down recommendations for the government that can help bridge the current gaps and resuscitate the artisan industry in the long run.