India’s handicraft export witness 19 growth in July (05-Aug-2010)
India’s handicraft exports witnessed a growth of 19% to over $120 million in the month of July on the back of increasing demand for the Christmas season mainly from the US and European markets. This is the fourth successive month when the handicraft exports reported a growth. The handicraft exports stood at $101 million in July 2009, according to the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).
The items which have showed a steady growth includes; immitation jewellery which grew by 37%, shawls as artwares were up 30%, woodwares surged by 25%, miscellaneous handicrafts jumped 20% and artmetal wares exports gained 17%. The sector, which was hit badly due to global economic downturn, turned positive in September 2009 registering an over 165% growth.
The council is hopeful of over 10% growth in the coming fiscal compared to the last fiscal. The exporters are pinning hope on demand from major markets like the US. The US and EU together comprises 70% of the country’s handicraft exports. Besides, the council is planning to increase the number of international trade fairs which are held in various countries to 47 from 33 in the fiscal to grab the optimal opportunity.
Earlier in the month June, India’s handicraft exports grew by over 21% to $136 million in June over the year-ago period. Among items that registered maximum growth in the June month were woodware grew by over 47%, followed by imitation jewellery 37%, artware 28.7%, zari and related products 20.30% and artmetal ware 19.50%.
Meanwhile, the government may announce additional fiscal incentives to the labour-intensive textile and handicraft export segments, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is likely to announce the incentives to labour-intensive sectors in the foreign trade policy review.With pick-up in exports since November 2009, sectors like gems and jewellery and chemicals have posted good growth but several segments like textiles and handicrafts continue to remain laggard.
India is one of the major exporter and supplier of handicrafts and gift products to the world market. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labor intensive and decentralized, being spread all across the country in rural and urban areas. The sector is considered as the second largest employment-generating sector after agriculture with numerous artisans engaged in craft work on a part-time basis. Moradabad, Jaipur, Saharanpur and Jodhpur are the major handicraft hubs catering to global markets.
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