Overview
- The Department of Textiles issued a Government Resolution on Thursday, July 16, formally discontinuing the Captive Market Scheme that supplied one free powerloom saree a year to Antyodaya ration card families.
- The scheme ran for three years from 2023 to 2025 and covered about 25 lakh beneficiary families with an annual procurement budget of roughly Rs 100 crore.
- The government cited a strained fiscal picture in the GR, including supplementary demands of about Rs 97,706.40 crore and projected 2026–27 revenue and fiscal deficits, as the reason the scheme cannot continue.
- Officials say the move ends guaranteed procurement that supported local powerloom weavers and procurement through cooperatives, self‑help groups and the Maharashtra State Powerlooms Corporation, and will directly affect poor women who received the sarees.
- The decision follows recent adjustments to other women‑targeted rolls reported earlier in July and could signal further retrenchment of festival and welfare programmes for vulnerable groups and for the state textile sector.