DHAKA: Indian weavers are planning to give US First Lady Michelle Obama 100 hand-woven silk saris during her visit to New Delhi with her husband.

A local businessman said on unday, reports The Straits Times.

The weavers have spent months painstakingly making the garments which they hope will promote their centuries-old industry in India’s holiest city Varanasi, as they face threats from cheaper, mass-produced competition.

‘We have used pure gold and silver threads for the sari that we have prepared for Michelle,’ said Pervez Matin, whose family has been in the weaving business for three generations.

‘It was woven on a handloom by our workers over two months,’ he told the media by phone from Varanasi.

BDST: 1508 HRS, JAN 25, 2015