Development Commissioner for Handlooms was set up as an attached non-participating office on 20th November, 1975 under the Ministry of Commerce. At present it is functioning under the Ministry of Textiles. The Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms is headed by an officer of Joint Secretary level having its headquarters at Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi.
Development Commissioner (Handlooms) office is assisted by 28 WSCs function across the country. Weavers’ Service Centers play a pivotal role in skill up-gradation, capacity building and disseminating the technological interventions for reducing the drudgery to the handloom weavers and better productivity, thereby improving earning of the weavers. They provide design input to the weavers through their designers, arrange training programmes for the weavers in various pre weaving , weaving and post weaving disciplines such as winding, warping, sizing dyeing, dobby jacquard pneumatic weaving, design making (CAD), dyeing, etc. WSCs also sponsor weavers in various trade fairs, Expos, to help them in establishing direct market linkages .
Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms) also oversees implementation of Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985 through its Enforcement Wing, with the regional offices at Chennai and Ahmedabad.
The Office of the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC), Lucknow is functioning under the Chairmanship of Development Commissioner (Handlooms) basically to provide input support through procurement and distribution of yarn, dyes, chemicals and marketing of handloom fabrics.