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Union Textiles Minister Shri ShankerSinh Vaghela has urged the handicraft exporters to re-define their marketing strategies to increase India’s share in the global market of gifts and handicrafts. He inaugurated Asia’s biggest Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair(IGHF) Autumn 2004 along with Indian Flooring and Furnishings Textiles Expo(IFFTEX 2004) organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts(EPCH) at Pragati Maidan here today. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that handicraft sector in recent years has become an important earner of foreign exchange in the country and one of the largest providers of employment in rural and semi urban sector. This sector plays vital role in economic development of the country.
Shri Vaghela informed that export of handicrafts in 2003-2004 has crossed Rs. 10,000 crore , registering growth of 25.43% in rupee term and 34.67% in dollar term. The growth in the current year is also impressive, witnessing achievement of 25.72% in the month of August 2004 in dollar terms.
The Minister pointed out that this is not enough when we see the global market of gifts and handicrafts which is to the tune of more than US $ 100 billion and our share is less than 2%.He added that we have to strategize ourselves with export promotion measures to increase our share in the world market. He also said that we look forward to competing in the world market.
At the fair, a wide and diversified variety of products are on display which includes home accessories, decorative products, hand made paper, jute products, art, craft ,hand crafted and hand printed textiles, embroidered products, terracotta, bamboo ,brass products, textiles using vegetable dyes, dry flowers and wrought iron. The major emphasis of IFFTEX is on floor coverings of coir ,jute, handlooms and handcrafted textiles for use in household with thrust on overseas markets for which a separate section is created alongside IHGF.
The five day event will mainly focus on home textiles and eco friendly products with a spotlight on global market.
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