Exploring the Covid-19 Revival Strategies Adopted by Assam Silk Industry

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has affected all the industries of India in general and the Indian textiles & handloom and handicraft industry in particular to a great extent. In the same measure, the silk industry is no exception and the pandemic intensely affected the demand and supply of Assam silk products too. All the industries have devised different strategies to counter the effect and revive the industries. Similarly, the Assam silk industry has also adopted some revival strategies during this pandemic. In this backdrop, this study is an attempt to explore the strategies adopted by Assam silk shopkeepers to revive the silk industry. It further analyses various government assistances to sustain the silk industry. Primary data were collected from 60 number of Assam silk shopkeepers of Sualkuchi area by in depth interview through unstructured schedule. The findings indicate that the Assam silk shopkeepers failed to devise effective strategies but rather relied more on Government assistance in large scale for revival during the pandemic