Collects overseas payments for handloom weaver groups and splits them by UPI
TL;DR Heddlepay is the export back office that handloom producer companies and weaver cooperatives never had. It invoices overseas buyers, collects through a licensed cross-border payment partner, does the export paperwork and pays each weaver their share by UPI. The weaver group pays a small cut of every order.
India counted 35.22 lakh handloom workers in its 2019–20 census, and 25.46 lakh of them were women[1]. The average worker found only 207 days of work a year[1].
Exports are shrinking too. Handloom goods under the export council's codes fell from US$266.88M in 2021–22 to US$138.45M in 2023–24 (about ₹1,340 Cr)[1], so in two years half of it simply went away.
Now picture a boutique in Europe that wants 40 sarees from a cluster. Who sends the invoice in euros, and who chases the payment? Usually nobody, because the group has no export desk, and that's where middlemen step in and keep most of the margin.
What it does, in regulatory terms: export documentation and payment operations, using an RBI-authorised cross-border payment aggregator. Heddlepay holds no customer money itself and does not convert currency.
The seed wanted a decentralised payment rail run through a network of weavers. We dropped that. Crypto gains in India face a flat 30% tax and 1% TDS[2], RBI is against legalising such assets[3], and export earnings still have to come home through a bank within nine months and show up in RBI's export monitoring system[4]. A token rail adds cost and risk and doesn't remove a single form.
What weaver groups actually lack is the back office. Heddlepay quotes in the buyer's currency, sends a payment link through a licensed partner, tracks the shipment and the inward remittance certificate, and closes the export entry before the deadline. When the money lands it splits the order value by each weaver's recorded pieces and sends it by UPI the same day, and the group sees every step in one ledger.
The producer company or cooperative pays 2–4% of each order value (our estimate). Weavers are the end users and overseas boutiques and designers are the buyers.
For comparison, one flat-fee export collection platform charges US$19 per payment up to US$2,000 and US$29 up to US$10,000[5]. So you can't win on the transfer fee. Heddlepay has to earn its premium through the paperwork and the member payouts.
RBI started licensing cross-border payment aggregators in July 2024, with an Indian gateway first and several global and domestic players soon after[6]. A large global wallet got in-principle approval for export collections in May 2025[7]. The collection rails are sorted now, which leaves the messy work sitting on top of them up for grabs.
There's no public figure for how many handloom groups export directly. The firmest number is export value - about US$138M in 2023–24 across the handloom export codes, down by half in two years[1].
The government had formed 151 handloom producer companies by 2023[1], and that's a ready-made first list of buyers.
That platform serves more than 40,000 Indian exporters with flat-fee collections and instant remittance certificates[5]. Global wallets and the licensed aggregators offer the rails[6][7]. Export houses and traders buy from clusters and resell.
None of them will split one payment across 60 weavers or file the paperwork for a group with no export staff. That member-level layer is the gap.
| Difficulty | Moderate (40/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹50 L–1 Cr |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The software is the easy bit. The hard part is finding overseas buyers who'll order from groups at all, and then getting quality, packing and shipping right every single time. Your margin also rides on order size, and small orders barely cover the paperwork.
You don't need a payments licence yourself, as long as a licensed partner holds and converts the money.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI file anything with the bank or decide who gets paid what. A wrong entry there is a compliance problem and a weaver short of money.
Want to work out the AI layer for Heddlepay? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is worth a shot if you know textile exports and don't mind spending weeks in clusters. If the blockchain angle is what got you excited then skip it, because the real work is buyers and paperwork.
First, prove that three producer companies will route real export orders through you within a quarter.
Plan for roughly ₹50 L–1 Cr over 6–9 months, mostly on the export desk team, cluster visits and a payments integration.
Only at decent order sizes. A 2–4% cut on small orders barely covers the paperwork, so margins depend on landing larger, repeat buyers.
Yes, wherever artisan groups sell abroad without an export team. You'll need a licensed payments partner there and your country's foreign exchange rules.
The free Heddlepay validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the export and payment rules checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for weaver groups and buyers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Heddlepay or something close to it? The hard part is lining up overseas orders that are steady and big enough to cover the paperwork, and I'm happy to think that through with you. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.