Entrepreneurship in Tribal Handloom Clusters in India

The handloom sector not only represents the rich heritage of India, but is also the second largest employment provider after agriculture and has shown great resilience in surviving and sustaining over the ages. The North Eastern states of India have the largest concentration of handlooms in the country and more than 50 per cent of the handloom workforce belongs to this region. Based on the mapping of Thenzawl handloom cluster in Mizoram,a tribal state of the North East, the author has analyzed the growth of micro enterprises in the cluster, the role of motivation in the overall process of entrepreneurship in the cluster, the various problems faced by the entrepreneurs and provides specific inputs to the policymakers for formulating relevant strategies for the development of the sector.