KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: India's centuries-old weaving industry is in crisis. Increased competition from abroad is one factor. But weavers say the home-grown constraints they face aren't helping matters. Martha Graham reports.</s>MARTHA GRAHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The weavers of northern India are finding it increasingly hard to market their wares. Mats produced in China are cheaper and of better quality. New state taxes, along with a general climate of government neglect, compound the weavers' problems.</s>PAL SINGH, ANSARI WEAVING COOP (through translator): The people who work are not provided any facilities. They have no sophisticated machinery. Fresh taxes on exports and competition with China have affected us badly.</s>GRAHAM: Their competitors abroad boast the latest power equipment. But weavers here often make do with obsolete hand looms. Just buying raw materials can mean running up huge debts with local money-lenders.</s>MOHAMMED SHAMMEM ANSARI, WEAVER (through translator): Nowadays, we do not get loans from banks, and for this, the weavers are distressed. The banks hesitate to give loans to the Weavers Society. We have written to the higher authorities, but no one pays us any attention.</s>GRAHAM: The weavers are also angry with the state-run organization that used to market their mats. It stopped doing that, when demand declined. The weavers say they need more, not less government help.</s>ABDUL GAFFUR, WEAVER: It is difficult to get raw materials and equally difficult to sell the ready-made items. We want the government to supply us with raw materials and also to market our finished products.</s>GRAHAM: The Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh state currently boasts 5,000 weavers. But it's an industry many weavers there say has a bleak future. Martha Graham, INSIDE ASIA.
India's Centuries-Old Weaving Industry in Crisis