Gujarat Cottage & Rural Industries Policy 2024

The Gujarat Cottage & Rural Industries Policy 2024 is a five-year policy framework designed to build a dynamic, self-reliant cottage and rural industries sector. The policy focuses on raising artisan incomes, expanding market access, and preserving Gujarat's rich khadi, handloom, and handicraft heritage. Key tools include the enhanced Vajpayee Bankable Yojana 2.0 credit scheme, turnover-linked incentives, design and incubation studio networks, and targeted One District One Product (ODOP) value chain integrations.

The policy commits to creating a dynamic, self-reliant (Atmanirbhar) cottage sector that holds a stronger share in local and international markets, raising artisan living standards while safeguarding state dying handicrafts.

Five-Year Policy Targets

Key Objectives

• •Establish simple, incentive-driven credit access that improves artisans' socio-economic conditions.
• •Promote holistic cluster development and support for cottage, handicraft, and handloom units.
• •Develop effective marketing, PR, social/e-marketing, and emporium networks to build a distinct product identity.
• •Support design and incubation studios, mentoring, investor meets, and R&D for artisan entrepreneurs.
• •Facilitate eco-friendly production methods and establish a unified digital platform (artisan database, dashboards, and analytics).
• •Organize awareness programmes to secure the generational transfer of hereditary crafts.

Credit assistance, financial aid, and toolkits are transitioning to a digital single-window portal with streamlined processing and doorstep delivery.

Enhanced Credit Ceilings

Turnover-Linked Incentive (New Initiative)

To encourage formalization of cottage units, eligible individual manufacturing or processing entrepreneurs will receive an incentive of 5% of annual turnover/sales, up to ₹1,20,000 per year, for a scheme period of five years.

Manav Kalyan Yojana & Central Alignments

Under the Manav Kalyan Yojana, physical toolkit distributions are replaced by an e-voucher process delivering the same tool value. The state concurrently leverages Central schemes such as the PM Vishwakarma Yojana, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), and SFURTI.

Skill-building activities focus on result-based training programmes with post-training tracking, alongside market, design, and toolkit support to ensure commercial sustainability.

• •Training Monitoring Cell: Established to supervise all training activity, curriculum standardization, and post-programme tracking.
• •Generational Skill Transfer: Award-winning national/state artisans and certified skill instructors are engaged to train new recruits.
• •Refresher Modules: Packaging, branding, and product-transport modules are added to existing training curricula to keep pace with retail market shifts.
• •Artisan Handholding: Partners help artisans with handloom mark, craft mark, import-export certificates, e-commerce onboarding, and government applications.
• •Special Needs Integration: Pre-vocational and vocational craft education in schools focusing on children with special needs (CWSN).
• •ONDC Workshops: Regular Open Network for Digital Commerce workshops are conducted to maximize digital marketplace onboarding.

Innovation & Design Grants

The policy promotes collaborations between designers, design students, and traditional craft clusters to create contemporary collections while documenting dying arts in a permanent digital archive.

Infrastructure & Craft Tourism

• •Cluster-Development Guidelines: Revised through strategic evaluations and stakeholder inputs to ensure optimal resource sharing.
• •Rural Industries Development Centre (RIDC): Financial assistance raised from ₹13 Lakh to ₹35 Lakh based on artisan density.
• •Craft Village: Integrating traditional handloom and handicraft zones with tourism circuits to create immersive visitor experiences.
• •Craft Museum: A state-of-the-art national craft museum to be set up at Gandhinagar.

One District One Product (ODOP) Framework

Under the ODOP initiative, 31 unique products have been selected across Gujarat's districts. The framework aims to close infrastructure and value-addition gaps for each product.

• •Producer Enterprise (PE): Conceived as a platform to aggregate resources, coordinate production, and integrate marketing for cluster artisans.
• •Strategic Selection: Clusters are chosen based on design uniqueness, supply capacity, and long-term market competitiveness.
• •Target: 10 dedicated handicraft & handloom clusters to be established over the five-year policy period.

e-Cottage Portal

An online single-window portal, 'e-Cottage' (www.ecottage.gujarat.gov.in), has been launched to host all cottage & rural-industry schemes, streamline applications, and create a comprehensive database for planning and data analytics.

Export Promotion Incentives

• •DGFT Collaboration: Partnering with Export Houses, FIEO, and the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) to grow craft exports.
• •International B2B Meets: Hosting international buyer-seller meets to align products with global consumer demands.
• •IEC Registration Incentive: 100% reimbursement of the Import-Export Code (IEC) registration fee and up to 50% of any consultancy fee per artisan.

Branding & Craft Quality Certifications

Honours & Mentorships

The policy increases the count of state- and district-level awards to encourage artisans. Award-winning artisans are engaged in mentorship workshops to guide new recruits and secure generational continuity of skills.