Kashmir shawl embroidery artisans receive upskilling entrepreneurship and market linkage training

KOLKATA: Shawl embroidery artisans from Kashmir have received upskilling, entrepreneurship development and market linkage training to enhance their market access and increase their income.

The training is intended to improve the profit margin of shawl embroidery artisans by not only reducing costs of raw materials procurement and time through minor innovations in use of tools, it also onboarded the artisans onto e-commerce platforms so they can sell their goods directly without the involvement of middlemen.


"One of the major problems plaguing India's diverse handicraft is to get the next generation to continue. And that is primarily because lack of income enhancement means the young do not see any major change in lifestyle. The training aims to address that by making shawl-making not just a viable but also a profitable profession," said Abhijit Chatterjee, chairman of Ascensive Group that conducts these training focusing on building holistic livelihood ecosystems where skill development is supported by mentoring, entrepreneurship orientation, and structured market connectivity.

The 200-odd artisans from Barahmullah and Gulmarg who underwent a year's training have already begun reaping the benefits. Bulk procurement has reduced raw material costs by 15%. Improved illumination and innovative use of tools has reduced the time for making shawls by 30%.

At present, a shawl they sell for Rs 1,000 is sold in the market for Rs 5,000. Once they sell their products online or directly in stores, they can do so for Rs 4,000. This will increase their income by Rs 3,000, he explained.

The training was financed by the CSR funds from Genius HRTech Ltd. Its CMD R P Yadav emphasized that impactful CSR must move beyond training to ensure long-term livelihood sustainability through entrepreneurship and market access. "We need to save the handicraft and that can happen only when the next generation takes it forward," he added.

Last year, the upskilling programme was targeted at Chhou mask makers from Chorida village in Purulia. Around 200 artisans were trained on ways to improve packaging and how to sell on e-commerce sites. Chatterjee claimed their income had increased by 70% after the training.