Handloom Production in Tribal Clusters : A Case Study of Thenzawl in Mizoram

The micro handloom enterprises in India are largely home-based enterprises but play an important role in the Indian economy. In spite of the challenges faced, the handloom sector has shown great resilience in surviving and sustaining over the decades by maintaining a 20-25% share of the total textile production and been the second largest employer in India. The northeastern states of India have the largest concentration of handlooms in the country with more than 65% of the total looms. This paper studies the various aspects of handloom production such as production processes, the number and type of looms owned, their capacity utilization and so on in the traditionally run micro handloom enterprises in the Thenzawl cluster, a remote tribal cluster predominantly run by women entrepreneurs, located in Mizoram. The paper suggests development activities to be undertaken in the cluster to enable the enterprises to sustain and grow