CHAPTER 4

HANDLOOM WEAVERS' COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES - A PROFILE

Introduction

In TamJlnadu, Weavers' Cooperatives have a federal

system with two-tier structure consisting of Primary

Weavers' Cooperative Societies at the base and the Apex

Handloora Weavers' Cooperative Society (the Cooptex) at the

State level. Primary Weavers' Society, being, the production

cum sale unit Is established in areas where there is

concentration of weavers. On the other hand, the state level

society, being a federal organisation concentrates on

marketing of the products of its affiliates besides

assisting them for better performance. This chapter presents

a brief note on the weavers' cooperatives in Tamilnadu, in

such aspects as constitution and management, capital

structure, loom coverage, production and sale of hand! oorn

fabrics and financial performance. This will serve aa a

background for analysing their marketing strategies.

Objectives

Since Primary Weavers' Cooperative Societies (PUCSs)

are production - cum - sale units, they have aa their

objectives: Purchase of raw materials and appliances and

distributing them to member-producers for converting them

into finished products o£ required form and quality;

arranging for the marketing of finished goads to the best

advantage of the members and undertake such other activities

as may be conducive to the promotion of handloom industry in

general and the economic conditions of the weavers in

particu]ar.

The Cooptex has its principal objective of organising

handloom Industry on a commercial basis and expansion of the

market for handloom fabrics besides provision of other-

facilities to the members of affiliated primary societies.

In pursuance of the above objective, the Cooptex performs

various functions viz., purchase of raw materials and

appliances required by affiliated societies, purchase of the

finished products of the affiliated societies for sale,

undertaking pre-looming and post-looming works In connection

with handloom weaving, advising affiliated societies for

production of improved and easily marketable patterns and

designs of fabrics, and undertaking such other activities as

may help the development of handloom industry and improve

the economic conditions of weavers.

78

Age of the Primary Weavers' Cooperative Societies

The average age of PWCSs was 37.5 years. The number of

] ongstanding societies, i. . e, between 4 5 and 60 years was

A" %•

larger under category *R' followed by NC . It may be

Inferred that most of the silk weaving societies (70 per

cent) were of" recent origin when compared to other

categories. (See table 4.0.1) This reveals that there had

been a qualitative change in weavers' cooperatives; and more

number of a IIk weaving societies are coming up.

Membership

The PWCSs have two types of members viz., 'A' class and

VB' class. Any weaver above eighteen years of age who Is

competent, to contract, and residing within the jurisdiction

of the society Is eligible for admission to " h' class

membership. Minors who own looms, may however, be admitted

as 'B' class members through their legal guardian and such

members have right to enjoy only the services of the

society. Since State Government is the patron of the

For the. purpose of analysis, all the Primary Weavers' Cooperatives were categorised on the basis of their main product(a), that have formed not less than one-third or BO per cent to the total value of production of the society. Primary Weavers'Cooperatives wherein silk fabrics was the main product were categorised as VA" and those which had carpet/made-up fabrics were classified as SB' and those with other than silk and carpet/made-up fabrics were regarded as *C'.

79

Table 4.01

Age o£ PUCSs

/

cooperative movement in the state, memberahip o£ the state

government in PUCSs is a common feature.

The average membership of a PUCS during the study

period was 452. The average membership of a society under

eategoryvA' was higher (623) than other societies. During

the study period, the membership of PUCSs had been growing

at an average rate of 1.24 per cent (Table 4.02). This

80

Table 4.02

Membership in PUCSs

suggests that the membership increased steadily and the silk

weaving societies were able to attract more members.

The membership of the Cooptex consisted of all PUCSs,

Cooperative Spinning Mills, Other Cooperative institutions

engaged in the production, distribution or sale of raw

materials required by handloom weavers and the Government of

Tamilnadu. These institutions are admitted as lA' class

81

members and few individuals who are promoters of the

societies as " B' class members. The PUCSs constituted 93.18

per cent of the membership; and the growth in membership of

the Cooptex was mainly due to increase in the number of

PUCSs which recorded an average rate of 1.11 per cent during

the study period. This reveals that the primary weavers'

societies had been newly organised in the State(Table 4.03).

Looms Coverage

There were 4.28 lakh handlooms in Tamilnadu, which were

concentrated in a few districts. The districts such as

Salem, Periyar and Chengleput had 10 to 15 per cent of

handlooms each, while Kamarajar, Colmbatore, Madurai, South

Arcot , North Arcot and Trichy districts had 5 to 10 per

cent each of total looms in the state. The districts such as

Anna (Dindigul), Madras, Pudukottai , Tanjore, Naget-eoil and

Dharmapuri had less than 5 per cent each. So far as looms

coverage o£ the Cooptex is concerned, 2.S5 lakh looms had

been brought under its fold, of which nearly 28,000 looms

were idle . Thus the effective cooperative coverage of

handlooms in the state was 57.85 per cent during 1989-90.

1 Government of Tamilnadu, Handlooms and Textiles: Policy

and Programmes 1990-91, Op.cit., p.6.

82

Tattle 4.03

Membership of the Cooptex

So fa r as t h e PUCSs a r e c o n c e r n e d , t h e a v e r a g e number

o£ handlooms p e r s o c i e t y in t h e a r e a o£ o p e r a t i o n was 3764,

o£ which o n l y 14 .23 p e r cen t had been b rough t under t h e

83

cooperative fold. Of the total number of looms covered, only

74.15 per cent were active looms. Further, among the

different categories of societies, "A' category societies

had largest coverage (57.26 per cent); whereas the " B'

category societies had greater proportion of active looms

('70.54 per cent). The societies under category lC were

found to be weak both in respect of coverage of looms and

active looms (Table 4.04).

Therefore, it may be inferred that though majority of

looms of the weavers' cooperatives were 'active' the mixed

fabrics weaving societies had poor looms coverage and high

* percentage of idle looms. Thus silk weaving societies had

shown greater potential for growth than the rest.

Funds

The main source of finance are share capital, deposits,

borrowings, and retained earnings. PUCSss receive share

capital from members including individual weavers and the

State Government, thrift deposits from members, and other

deposits from traders/merchants and non-members. Besides

their retained earnings, they borrow from central

cooperative banks for their current capital requirements and

* Handlooms that are operated for less than 90 days in a

year are treated as idle looms.(This is the norm of the Director of Handlooms and Textiles, Madras).

84

Table 4.04

Looms Coverage of PHCSs - Average frota 1964 - 85 to 1988 - 89

from s t a t e government for- m o d e r n i z a t i o n of looms, and such

o t h e r b l o c k c a p i t a l r e q u i r e m e n t s .

During the p e r i o d under- r e v i e w , on an ave rage 82.53 per­

c e n t and 80.26 pe r c e n t of c a p i t a l in s o c i e t i e s under-

8 5

category "C and 'B' respectively were in the form of

borrowed capital; whereas it was only 57.94 per cent in "A'

category societies. In absolute terms also, the total

capital per society under category VA' was the highest

(Rs.73.12 lakh) followed by category 'B' (Rs.63.83 lakh).

The societies under 'C category had much smaller capital

base (Re.14.98 lakh). (Table 4.05) This shows that silk

weaving societies had a much stronger owned capital base

coupled with larger deposits as compared to other categories

of societies. Thus, it may be inferred that silk weaving

societies have greater potential for generating larger

quantum of revenue and augmenting their owned capital base

than the others.

So far as the Cooptex is concerned, the authorised

share capital is Rs.50 crore made up of 100 lakh shares of

Rs.50/- each. Of these shares, not more than 10 per cent to

the value of Rs. 50 lakh is to be allocated to other

cooperative institutions, other than weavers' cooperatives

and the Government of Tamilnadu. As per bye law, the total

borrowings of the society should not exceed ten times the

paid up share capital and the reserve fund and further, the

total sum so borrowed should at any time not exceed the

value of yarn and the finished goods in the custody of the

society. The society borrows fund from the State Government,

86

Table 4.05

Capital Structure of PWCSs - Average per society (1984 - 85 to 1988 - 89)

(Rs. in Thousand)

Figurei in parentheses indicate percentages to column tota l .

t h e S t a t e C o o p e r a t i v e Bank, t h e NABARD, Commercial Banks and

o t h e r p u b l i c f i n a n c e c o m p a n i e s / c o r p o r a t i o n s . B e s i d e s , i t

a c c e p t s d e p o s i t s from p r i m a r y s o c i e t i e s and t r a d e r s .

87

During the year 1983-84, the total capital of the

society was Rs. 6899.30 lakh which rose to Rs.10,986.15 lakh

in 1988-89; the compound growth rate being 8.06 per cent.

With regard to composition of capital of the society, during

the period under review, the borrowings of the society

formed 74.07 per cent and the share capital 22.76 per cent.

Other items such as deposits and reserves formed less than 2

per cent each. (Table 4.06). A substantial portion of the

limited share capital, as much as 93.99 per cent was

subscribed by the State Government. The share capital

subscribed by Cooperative Spinning Mills, other cooperative

institutions and 'B' class members formed a very

insignificant percentage to total paid up capital of the

society. (Appendix 2.01)

It is therefore, inferred that the proportion of

borrowed capital to the total capital was high in primary

societies as well as in the Cooptex and the financial

participation of the State Government either as loan or aa

share capital contribution to weavers' cooperatives was

substantial.

88

89

Management

So far as the Cooptex is concerned, the management as

per its bye law vests in a Board consisting of 15 members.

The manner of constitution of the Board (Appendix IV) would

reveal that it is dominated by bureaucrats nominated by the

State Government, rather than by elected representatives of

various interest groups.

The members of the Board shall elect from among

themselves a President, a Vice-President and a Treasurer.

The administration of the affairs of the Cooptex vests on

Executive Committee comprising the President, the Vice-

President, the Treasurer, the Managing Director, the

Director of Handlooms and Textiles,the Registrar of

cooperative Societies, One representative of the Tarnllnadu

State Cooperative Bank and three of the representatives of

PUCSs.

As on 15.3.1971 the Board of Directors was superseded

by the Director of Handlooms and Textiles and the management

of the affairs of the Cooptex was entrusted to the Special

Officer under section 72 (i) of the Tamilnadu Cooperative

Societies Act 1961, who is functioning under the control of

the Director of Handlooms and Textiles, Tamilnadu.

So far as PUCSs are concerned, the management as per

bye-law vests in a Board consisting of seven to twelve

90

members of whom atleast five to seven members shall be

weaver members. The Government or any authority specified in

this behalf by the Government, may nominate a representative

on the Board of Management of the society till the share

capital held by the Government is retired.

The representatives of the weavers in the Board of

Management shall be elected by the general body for a period

of three years. One third of them shall retire annually from

office by rotation and the vacancies caused by the

retirement of such members shall be filled by election at

the general meeting held for the purpose. The members of the

Board shall elect from among themselves a President, a

Vice-President and a Treasurer. The administration of the

affairs of the society shall vest in an executive committee

consisting of the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and

the Secretary.

The Board of Management of the PUCSs have also been

superseded by the Director of Handlooms and Textiles under

Cooperative Societies (Appointment of Special Officers) Act

of 1976. The management of the affairs of each primary

society has been entrusted to the Special Officer. Further,

to assist him In matters pertaining management of the

society, a President and a Vice-President have also been

nominated by the Registrar (Director of Handlooms and

91

Textiles) for a period of five years. Thus, it is a matter

of concern that the democratic system has been stifled,

giving place to the bureaucratic domination.

Organisational Structure

This Is an Important means for achieving the objectives

of an organisation. While designing the organisational

structure, due care should be taken to ensure proper

grouping of work teams and proper division of tasks and

division of authorities and responsibilities among different

1evels.

The organisational structure at the primary level is

simple and all the PUCSs have 'line' type structure

which is characterised by direct vertical authority

responsibility, accountability relationships connecting jobs

and positions at each level with those above and below it.

(See Chart 2). The organisation structure of the Cooptex

la complex; and has '"line-staff functional' type

organisational structure. Marketing function finds a

prominent place in the organisational structure as indicated

in the organisational chart 3, with appropriate territorial

divisions and functional specialisation such as

advertisement and export.

92

CHART 2

" g — w p —

9 4

The textile processing has two distinct stages,namely,

pre-looming and post-looming. In pre-looning processes,the

* yarn is made to undergo various treatments like scovering,

. , * * @ dyeing, Sizing, etc., to make it fit to put on loom for

weaving.

Post-loom processes involve ornamentation of finished

handloom cloth like printing, mercerising,* sanforcing,

polymerising,* calendering" , water repelling, fine

proofing/ smooth feel, embroidery, bead and glass work etc.

The cost of any finished product must necessarily include

the cost of both the processes, and its marketability

* .Scovering is the process of removal of all the impurities

contained in the fibres. * *

Dyeing is a process of application of colour in textile fabrics/fibre to produce uniform colouration of the entire fabrics.

@ Sizing is the process of the removal of protruded fibres

by burning out from the surface of the material or fabrics.

#T

It is a process of improving the physical properties of the cotton materials like lustre, moisture, absorption, dyeability and bulkiness. ##

It is a finishing process for removing shrinkage to the fabric so that the fabrics may not shrink at the time of use. * Polymerisation is a process of creating inter owenness to

the fabrics. a-*

It is a finishing process for improving the surface character of the fabric and to induce glossiness and lustre.

95

depends not only on its attraction in finished state but

also of its competitive production cost.

Most of the pre-loom jobs are done by weavers

themselves either individually or collectively or get: done

on payment of charges to processors. Since post-loom

processes need capital investment in the form of machines,

equipments and the like, weavers are unable to undertake

them on their own and therefore, these activities are to be

done by/through their cooperatives. It is also to be noted

that the type of activities under pre-looming and post-

looming processes needed for a fabric, vary from product to

product. Cooperatives are , therefore, expected to undertake

the above processing activities, provided such activities

ensure the advantages of cost and scale of operations so

that productivity of weavers as well as efficiency of the

cooperative could invariably be enhanced.

So far as PUCSs are concerned, some of them had their

own facilities for pre as well as post-looming processes and

some others got their processing job done by outside

agencies. Dyeing/Bleaching was the most common processing

activity needed by PUCSs (80 per cent) followed by warping

(75 per cent), printing (52 per cent) and sizing (48 per

cent). One third of the primary societies needed other-

processing activities like reeling, sanforeing/mercerlslng

96

and calendering. Majority of the PUCSs had their own

facilities for dyeing, sizing, warping and reeling while

printing, sanforcing/mercerising were got done by outside

agencies, and mostly with the help of the Tamilnadu

Cooperative Textiles Processing Mills Ltd., Erode(Table

4.07).

Raw Materials

The raw materials for the weaving Industry include yarn

made of cotton, art-silk, silk, wool and synthetic fibres,

dye-stuff, chemicals and zat-i (gold/silver fibres).

Although the proper mix of raw materials add utility to

fabrics, yarn is the major item and others give tangible

features and enhanced value to the product. As raw materials

determine the quality, cost and saleability of fabrics and

the productivity of weavers, their importance for handloom

weaving assumes greater significance. The supply of yarn and

other raw-materials, on a dependable basis and at reasonable

price, supported by other infrastructural facilities, is

perhaps the basic requisite for the sustained growth of the

handlooms.

Since cotton handlooms account for more than three

fourth of the looms in Tamilnadu, cotton yarn is the major

97

* raw material for manufacturing fabrics. Cotton yarn is

procured by the Cooptex on outright basis from 20

cooperative spinning mills, as well as the wills under the

Tamilnadu Textile Corporation and Cooperative Spinning Mills

of other states. Polyester blended and cent per cent

polyester filament yarn are procured from Pett-oflle

Cooperatives and open market, art silk from South India

Viscose and silk yarn from State Silk Marketing

Board/Corporat i on.

In as much as PUCSs are highly dispersed and located

throughout the state in remote rural areas, the distribution

of yarn by the Cooptex is not a simple task. The different

counts of hank yarn needed by PUCSs may not be available

with Cooperative uSpinnine Mills located in the respective

area wherein PUCSs exist. That means, the required counts of

yat-n available with the Cooperative Spinning Mills

elsewhere, are to be made available to needy primaries. On

the other hand, If primaries themselves are permitted to

procure yarn directly from the Cooperative Spinning Mills,

It will lead to several problems. Uith a view to regulating

* Cooperative sector requires on an average 4000 bales of

yarn per month in various counts. (See Government of Tamllnadu, Handlooms and Textllea-Pol icy and Programme 1989-90, Op.cit., p.6).

98

Table 4.07

Production Facilities in PUCSs

Figures in parentheses indicate percentages to row total.

and monitoring the production of yarn by Cooperative

Spinning Mills and distribution of the same to primaries,

the Cooptex has created a network of 21 yarn depots situated

in important weaving centres of Tamilnadu. The PUCSs place

indents for their monthly yarn requirements in advance, to

the respective yarn depots in their area. The consolidated

99

figures are sent to the office of the Director of Handlooms

and Textiles, Madras for mill wise allotment. On receipts of

allotment orders from the Director of Handlooms and Textiles,

the mills are given despatch instructions for delivery of

yarn bales to the various yarn depots. The yarn bales so

received by the yarn depots are sold to primaries baaed on

their indents. The PUCSs after remitting cost of the yarn at

the concerned District Central Cooperative Bank, take

delivery from the yarn depots. In case, the required count

of yarn is not available at the yarn depot 'no stock

certificate' is issued to PUCSs to the extent of one week's

requirement to enable them to buy the yarn from the Mills/

Open market.

The Cooptex distributed on an average Rs.3949.44 lakh

worth yarn to PUCSs which had been growing at the rate of

3.54 per cent during the period under study. Among the

various types of yarn distributed by the Cooptex (Table

4.08) as much as 74.13 per cent were in the form of cotton

yarn, 23.49 per cent in the form of polyester and l.S per

cent in the form of art silk. Till 1987-88 silk yarn was not

distributed by the Cooptex, because the silk weaving

societies themselves procured yarn directly from the State

Silk Marketing Board/Corporation. Since the Cooptex imported

silk yarn from China in the year 1987-88, it also started

100

Table 4.08

Distribution of Yarn to FMCSs by the CoopteK

(value in Rs. lakh)

d i s t r i b u t i n g them t o s e l e c t s i l k w e a v i n g s o c i e t i e s . However ,

t h e p r o p o r t i o n o f s i l k y a r n d i s t r i b u t i o n t o t o t a l was v e r y

i n s i g n i f i c a n t ( 0 . 5 6 p e r c e n t ) .

101

Similarly, dye-stuff and chemicals and zarl were not

procured by the Cooptex. PUCSs had been procuring the

required dye-stuff and chemicals from the open market and

zari from the Tamilnadu Zari Ltd.,Kancheepuram and Surat

merchants. In so far as the societies under category "A' are

concerned, 67.55 per cent of the value of raw material were

Jn the form of sari. The silk yarn procured from state

institutions and open market formed 21.2.1 per cent and 10.57

per cent respectively to the total value of raw materials.

Among other societies, 93 to 96 per cent of their raw

materials were in the form of yarn. As much as 34 to 39 per­

cent of yarn requirements were met from the open market. The

value o£ dye-stuffs and chemicals constituted a meagre

percentage to the total value of raw materials in all

category of societies (Table 4.09).

It may be inferred that 5 5 to 61 per cent of the

material requirements comprising mainly yarn, in respect of

societies other than silk weaving societies were met by the

Cooptex, while only less than 25 per cent of the requirement

of silk weaving societies were met by the above source.

Thus, the private merchants/dealers of raw materials still

play a significant role in catering to the raw-material

requirements of PUCSs in Tamilnadu particularly the silk

102

Table 4.09

Procurement of Raw aaterials by PWCSs

(average from 1984-85 to 1968-89)

(Rs, in OOO's)

103

weaving societies. The role o£ the Cooptex was conspicuous

by its absence in respect of sari, dyes and chemicals.

Production/Procurement of Fabrics

The PUCSs procure the entire fabrics that are produced,

out of the yarn and other raw materials supplied by them to

their weaver members. While supplying yarn and other raw

materials, PUCSs see that the value of such raw materials do

not exceed the value o£ share capital contributed by the

members. The PUCSs give detailed instructions and product

specifications on warp, weft, pattern, design etc., while

issuing, yarn to each member-weavers. Usually, 20 to 4 5 days

are allowed to complete weaving. An allowance of 5 to 10 per­

cent for warp and 2 to 5 per cent for weft is normally

provided for yarn waste. For extra work design, additional

yarn is given as per actual requirements. Uhen a weaver-

delivers the woven cloth to the society, they are inspected

before acceptance, so as to ensure that the fabrics are of

acceptable quality and are free from defect. Since

primary societies have no scientific instrument at their

* Quality is judged on the basis of picks, width and length

of a piece.

* * Fabric's defects include bad selvedge, damaged design in

borders, missing ends, less picks, uneven dyeing, shortage in width due to the usage of inferior reeds, defective design etc.

10 4

1 0 5

disposal for accurate and objective assessment of" yarn

quality, they adopt very loose 'quality tolerance limit'.

Based on the fabrics pattern and design and amount of labour-

involved, wages are paid as per the norms of the Director of

Handlooms and Textiles.

The PUCSs undertake production of fabrics against

production orders of the Cooptex, merchants/tradera and in

few cases consumers. In the absence of such production

orders, they also produce fabrics in anticipation of the

markets. On an average Rs.13.65 lakh, Rs.4.84 lakh and

Rs.1.26 lakh worth of fabrics were produced per month by

each society under category "A' , 'B' and "C respectively.

The growth rate was the highest (13.48 per cent) among the

societies under category 'A' followed by societies under 'B'

(2.54 per cent) and 'C (0.96 per cent) categories during

the period under review. Of the total production in these

societies, the proportion of 'production to order' was the

highest ( 65 per cent) In societies under category 'B' while

it was 50 per cent in 'A' category societies, and 40 per­

cent In '" C category societies (Table 4.10).

Mostly PUCSs found no problem in the disposal of

fabrics 'produced to order', unlike in the case of fabrics

that were produced in anticipation of the market.

106

Since, the Cooptex is the nodal agency for the

cooperative hand loom industry In Tamllnadu, the

responsJbi3ity of procuring quality products with reasonable

price lies In its procurement function. Tt is obliged to

procure not leas than 50 per cent, of the production of

PUCSs. The important seasons for procurement are X-tnas,

Deepawali and Pongal, and during such seasons it helpa PUCSs * •

to liquidate their stocks. As regards Janatha and Non-

Janatha polyester fabrics, the entire production of PUCSs Is

procured by the Cooptex.

The State is divided Into 12 regions to facilitate

easy procurement. Among these, Non-Janatha cotton fabrics

were available from as much as 3 0 regions whereas non-

janatha polyester and Janatha items were available from S

regions, and silk from 6 regions only. The Cooptex has

procured on an average Rs.6954.85 lakh worth hand loom

fabrics which works out to Ra.579.57 lakh per region. It has

recorded an annual growth of 8.52 per cent during the period

under review. Of the total procurement, non-Janatha cotton

* Janatha fabrics refer to a] 3. fabrics that are produced

under Janatha/Susman cloth scheme of the government. These fabrics are 3ow quality - low price units. For production of every one sq.tntr. cloth Ra.2.75 Is given as production subsidy by the government; but no rebate Is allowed on sales to consumers. The product materials Include polyester/ blended yarn, cotton, art silk and do not include silk yarn.

107

Table 4.11

Product His of Fabrics Procured by the CoopteK

(Rs. in Lakh)

108

fabrics formed the largest single component (42 pet- cent)

while Janatha items formed 30.13 per cent. Silk and non-

janatha polyester constituted only 15.33 per cent and 12.52

per cent respectively of the total procurement. However, the

growth rate in respect of silk and janatha fabrics was much

faster than the procurement of Non-Janatha polyester and

Non-Janatha cotton fabrics (Table 4.11). Immediately after

procurement, necessary efforts were taken to dispose the

fabrics in the market. (See Chapter 5)

Therefore, it may be concluded that order based

production was higher among carpet/made-ups weaving and

mixed fabrics weaving societies followed by silk weaving

societies in Tamilnadu. Janatha fabrics and non-janatha

cotton fabrics constituted a major chunk in the total

procurement of the Cooptex. Besides, the Cooptex has

procured 100 per cent of Non-Janatha polyester fabrics of

PUCSs in Tamilnadu.

Placement of Production Orders with PWCSs

Aiming at stabilising and streamlining the production

operations of PWCSs uniformly throughout the year and

providing regular and continuous employment to weavers, the

Cooptex procures fabrics once in three months from PWCSs. It

has introduced the production plan concept wherein

109

JMPrcWMIIIMWW^I'-.^

production orders are prepared in consonance with specific

sales periods, say, Deepawali, Pongal, Hand loom Ueek

festival, etc. The Cooptex arrives at the net requirements

for the current seasonal sales on the basis of the previous

season's product-wise sales which makes Jt possible to

correlate the sales with the existing stock. This kind of

planning helps to identify and produce only those products

which would sell in the market.

The Sales Manager of warehouses are requested to select

the designs and colour combination in the various items as

per the requirements of the target market. These designs are

given in the form of fabrics samples to the PUCSs by the

warehouse managers retaining counter samples. The PWCSs

arrange production as per these samples in consultation with

the manager and production supervisors concerned, if any.

The PUCSs will have to arrange production only according to

these designs, failing which, the fabrics will not be

procured from them.

At the time of procurement, the warehouse mangers visit

the PUCSs along with Manager (design and production). The

production supervisors are expected to ensure that the goods

as per the selected design are packed and despatched to the

warehouses concerned. This arrangement enables the selling

110

Table 4.12

Met Working Results of the Cooptex

units of the C.ooptex to get required type o£ goods which

will avoid stagnation of goods, and also increase the

ultimate sales value. Uhlle arriving at the quantity to be

ordered in each variety of fabrics, the saleability and the

stock of the last day of preceedlng month are being taken

into consideration.

Net Working Result

Cooperatives do not aim at profit. However, they are

expected to earn profit sufficient enough to make reasonable

allocation towards their various reserves so that they can

be economically strong and can accomplish their social

objectives in the long run. It is revealed in the table 4.12

111

Table 4.13

Net Working Results of PUCSs

Figures in parentheses indicate percentages to column total.

that the Cooptex was working with mixed fortunes during the

period under review. Similarly, it is also revealed that

majority (54 per cent) of the PUCSs were working with mixed

fortunes. However, 90 per cent and 50 per cent of societies

under category lA' and -R' respectively had earned profit in

all the years under review,while 70 per cent of societies

112

under category "C were working with mixed fortunes (Table

4.13). Thus, it may be stated that majority of weavers'

cooperatives Jncludine the Cooptex in Tamilnadu were working

with mixed fortunes during the period under review, lacking

consistency in the financial results. However, the

performance of the silk weaving and carpet/made-up fabrics

societies were better.

Conclusion

The overall performance of Weavers' Cooperatives

including the Cooptex in Tamilnadu was not satisfactory, and

it also varied from region to region and society to society.

Weak owned-capital base resulting in too much dependence on

borrowed capital, non-avallabl11ty of required raw materials

with organised institutions/agencies besides high dependency

of PUCSs for production of fabrics especially on the Cooptex

had been affecting their performance, and majority of

weavers' cooperatives including the Cooptex bad mixed

fortunes in their working results. However, the primary silk

weaving c-.oopertives were in the forefront in their- over all

performance followed by the carpet/made-ups weaving

societies and mixed fabrics weaving societies in Tamilnadu.

.11 3