Handmade paper is a sheet of paper or board produced by hand. If the sheet is formed by means of a cylinder mould and vat or on a fourdiner table, it cannot be called a han dmade paper even if the subsequent operations are carried out discontinuously. It should, however, be noted that the Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) includes paper and boards made in the cylinder mould machine (CMM) with a definite maximum deckle width of up to 102 cm. The All India Khadi and Village Industries Board was established in 1953 and it includes the handmade paper industry in its development program. The above board later became the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which further encouraged this industry through financial assistance and technological assistance such as introducing new equipment, new techniques, developing new varieties of paper, utilizing locally available diverse raw materials and helping entrepreneurs in their marketing efforts. The handmade paper units also enjoy several fiscal concessions and incentives such as central excise duty and sales tax exemptions in some States . Due to the above supporting program of the KVIC the number of handmade paper units grew from 35 in 1953 to more than 350 In 1993-94. In 1953, the value of handmade paper production was hardly Rs. 500,000 but it was more in 1993 than Rs. 150 million. The employment potential of the handmade paper industry is large. It employs 7,500 people of whom 50% are women. The total wage bill amounts to over Rs. 42.5 million. Table 1. gives details of the number of units, production and sale values, employment and wages.