Chairman of Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society (APCO) Chillapalli Venkata Naga Mohan Rao on Friday said he would set himself on the task of achieving an annual turnover of ₹1,000 crore.
Speaking after assuming the office as Chairman of the Apex handloom weavers’ cooperative society in the State, he said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was keen on improving the living standards of handloom weavers. He had got nearly ₹130 crore released by various departments that owed the amount to the society, keeping in view the welfare of weavers.
Referring to the YSR Nethanna Nestham scheme, which provides financial assistance to handloom weavers, he said ₹ 24,000 was credited directly into the bank accounts of the weavers who own looms, annually. The beneficiaries of the scheme receive a total aid of ₹1.2 lakh in the next five years.
Mr. Mohan Rao expressed gratitude to people of the State for extending patronage to APCO fabrics even during the COVID pandemic times and said the department had done business worth ₹26.44 crore in the current year.
He said the government move of collaborating with e-market giants to provide e-commerce platforms to the weavers to sell their products to buyers across the globe was a step in the right direction. Collaboration with e-commerce giants such as Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra would have a positive impact on the sale of weavers' fabrics, he said.
APCO Managing Director B.R. Ambedkar informed that business worth ₹11 lakh was done through e-commerce platforms, and expressed hope that the sales would go up in the days to come.
General Managers Ramesh and Sudarshan Rao and other officials of the society were present.
