The Indian Institute of Carpet Technology, Srinagar has been established by office of Development Commissioner-(Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India and Industries and Commerce Department, Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir with the objective to provide necessary technical support to Carpet Industry of Jammu and Kashmir.
The activities of the Institute revolve around below mentioned portfolios:
Human Resource Development
Skill Development Training Program (SDTP)
Skill Up-gradation and Capacity Building Training
The Institute has conducted short term Skill Up-gradation and Capacity Building training in different craft concentrated areas.
Short Term Certificate Course on Designing
Design Creation & Development (DCD)
Setting up of Design Studio
The Institute played a pivotal role in the introduction of Design Software for creation of carpet designs which has eased design work enormously as it used to take months together for a group of persons comprising of Naqash (Designer), Taleem Writer and a Taleem Copyist to make carpet design of standard size and transfer the design drafted on graph paper into the coded pattern known as taleem in the local language.
Design Studio equipped with latest digital equipments, including few reputed Design Softwares, has been established in the Institute.
1500 carpet and 300 Kani Shawl designs have been developed in the digital form with the application of different design softwares.
Creation of a Design Bank
With a view to preserve old/traditional carpet designs, which are available in the form of manually written taleem papers (coded pattern), the Institute has created a Design Bank in the digital format for the carpet craft.
The digitization of Taleem papers of more than 400 old/ traditional carpet designs, which were available in manually written taleem papers, has been done till date

Research & Development (R&D)
Development of new Steel Carpet Loom
In order to improve the working conditions of carpet artisans who are still working on very old and health hazardous wooden looms, the Institute, in collaboration with J&K SICOP, has recently developed a new steel carpet loom with inbuilt seating arrangement.
Number of prototypes were developed and on the basis of necessary testing and trial runs conducted by Institute, followed by inspection by Technical Team including stakeholders, one prototype of loom was found suitable for introduction in the carpet Industry.
Registration of Handknotted Carpet under GI Act
In order to provide legal protection and safeguard against use of registered Geographical Indication by others, the Institute, after putting in extensive hard work for more than 05 years, finally succeeded in registering Kashmiri Hand Knotted Carpet under Geographical Indication of Goods Act, 1999”.
The Institute shall be introducing QR Code mechanism, first of its kind in the Country, for the purpose of Certification& labeling of Hand-knotted Carpets produced in Kashmir under Geographical Indication of Goods Act 1999.
For this, the necessary up-gradation of existing laboratory by way of procurement of different testing equipments, Development of Online Cloud based QR Management System alongwith procurement of specialized destructible labels required for testing, certification and labeling of handknotted carpets under GI Act is in progress.
Study on utilization of locally available Reeled Mulberry Silk for carpets
After thorough analysis/research with regard to quality parameters of Reeled Mulberry Silk yarn for carpets, two silk carpets (Medium/Large) were developed and the same were displayed during the Buyer Seller Meets/Exhibitions. The quality of these silk carpets was found at par with the quality of Iranian carpets.
While appreciating this initiative, thestakeholders expressed the hope that such step will go a long way in boosting not only the carpet industry but also the silk industry of J&K. However, they are reluctant to use this quality of reeled silk for carpets due to its higher cost. As such, detailed study is required to be conducted by the concerned Departments/Central Silk Board/CSR&TI for bringing down the cost of reeled silk yarn to be used for carpets.
Standardization of the process of carpet washing
In order to streamline the process of carpet washing which has remained unchanged since centuries together and to standardize the use of chemicals and auxiliaries to improve the finishing of carpets, a detailed research study was conducted by the Institute.
During the study of existing process, samples of washed carpets (Silk /Woolen) of different qualities were checking for analysis purpose just to ascertain the impact of excessive use of chemicals/ auxiliaries.
After completion of the project, findings of study were shared with stakeholders, comprising of Washer-men, Manufactures, Artisans etc, & they were advised to adopt the standardized process/method of carpet washing for best results.
Technical Services
Other Initiatives
Setting up of Micro Carpet Cluster in Anantnag District.
National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India has accorded approval to the proposal of this Institute under “Technology Up-gradation Scheme” for 20 beneficiaries, falling under economically backward class category.