Indian govt to take measures to improve handicrafts sector

23 Sep '13

2 min read

India’s Minister of State for Textiles, Ms. Panabaka Lakshmi, has announced that appropriate measures would be taken for improvement and growth of the country’s handicraft sector.

The Minister said this at the two-day International Seminar for Promotion of Exports of Indian Handicrafts and International Craft Exchange Program which concluded recently in New Delhi.

The Minister said efforts would be made to remove bottlenecks and measures would be adopted for improvement in several areas, including design and product development, production techniques, enhancing skill development.

The handicrafts exchange program to promote Indian exports is a step in the right direction and it would provide a unique opportunity for Indian artisans to improve the use of technology, design, innovation and develop market linkages, to enhance the demand for the country’s handicrafts, she added.

The two-day seminar was jointly organized by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) and National Centre for Design and Product Development (NCDPD) under the aegis of Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).

The event saw the participation of eight international experts from China, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan and Ireland who were invited to interact with the industry representatives.

The program was divided into four technical sessions – technology knowledge sharing and dissemination; customer oriented design and product development; skills enhancement towards competitiveness in the international market; and market linkage – national and international.

India’s exports of handicrafts grew by 5.3 percent year-on-year to US$ 523 million in the month of August 2013, according to data released by the EPCH.

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