Tamil Nadu Gave Weavers a Small Raise. It Still Isn't Enough.

By Shweta Sonali — 2026-10-17

Erode's weavers asked the Tamil Nadu government for more money. Rising electricity rates, building rents, labour costs—the usual spiralling expenses. The government listened, sort of.

Rates went up.

For powerloom weavers making dhotis, the per-pick charge rose from 11 paise to 14 paise. Sarees climbed from 12.5 paise to 13 paise. On paper, that adds up to Rs 19.04 per complete dhoti and Rs 45.76 per saree. The state moved the needle.

It moved it three paise short of where the Tamil Nadu Weavers Associations Federation wanted it to move. They'd asked for 18 paise per pick on dhotis, 16 paise on sarees. They got less. B. Kandavel, the federation secretary, called the revision "some relief"—a phrase that lands differently depending on who's saying it.

This matters because the Pongal scheme is gigantic. The government plans to hand out free clothing to 2.25 crore ration cardholders for the upcoming festival. That means orders for 1.74 crore dhotis and 1.53 crore sarees through powerlooms alone. Another four lakh dhotis and 24 lakh sarees from pedal looms and handlooms combined. The state allocated Rs 300 crore as an advance.

Pedal loom rates shifted too. Weavers on those machines now get 27.20 paise per pick for dhotis and 27.76 paise for sarees. A complete pedal loom dhoti fetches Rs 36.99, a saree Rs 97.72. Handloom workers saw bigger jumps—dhoti charges up from Rs 96.13 to Rs 107.76, sarees from Rs 231.80 to Rs 260.39.

The handloom numbers tell you something. The shorter dhoti (now two metres instead of 3.75) should have lowered the rate, not raised it. But fabric thickness increased. The designs got more intricate. You can't pay less for more work and expect it to not show up somewhere else.

Kandavel noted this wasn't even the first move. There'd been an increase in 2024. Call it incremental progress. Call it catching up. Call it what it is: not enough.

The gap between what you ask for and what you receive—that's the real number worth remembering.

Source: https://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a1825553.html