Mudra loans for eligible weavers: Minister

Guntur: Minister for Handlooms & Textiles S Savitha directed officials to ensure that all eligible weavers get Mudra loans on time. She emphasised the need to organise awareness programmes at village level about free electricity benefits being extended to weaver families.

She instructed that APCO should boost its sales and promote newly designed handloom products aggressively through social media.

She was addressing the review meeting with department officials at the Handlooms & Textiles Commissionerate in Mangalagiri on Wednesday. Commissioner for Handlooms and Textiles Rekharani presented details of various welfare and development initiatives through a PowerPoint presentation.

The minister said, under the “One District – One Product” scheme, 36 products have been identified across the state. She expressed happiness over Andhra Pradesh securing 9 national ODOP awards recently and asked the officials to put in efforts to win more awards next year.

She said at present 93,000 weaver families in the state are receiving 200 units of free power, while 11,488 families with handlooms are being provided 500 units.

She ordered quick action for setting up new cooperative societies, warning that negligence in this matter would not be tolerated.

She asked Commissioner Rekharani to conduct frequent reviews on the progress.

She enquired about the number of Mudra loans sanctioned during 2025–26. She instructed the officials to ensure that all eligible weavers get loans on time and to coordinate with bankers at the district level to prevent delays. She directed that the sales through the state’s 92 APCO showrooms should be increased.

Last year, sales worth Rs 35.60 crore were achieved. She insisted that this year sales must rise further by providing prompt services to customers and improving the look of showrooms.