International lace trade centre to come up in South India

21 Aug '12

2 min read

Mr. N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister of the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has laid the foundation stone for setting up an international lace trade centre at Narsapuram in the state’s West Godavari district.

The lace trade centre is being set up at a cost of Rs. 153.3 million with the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) acting as the nodal agency. EPCH is now developing the infrastructure for the trade centre aimed at facilitating development and marketing of lace products.

The Central Government has set aside a sum of Rs. 700 million to support lace artisans, Mr. Reddy said.

Union Minister of State for Textiles, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi, said that over 80 percent of the total lace produced in West and East Godavari districts is exported to Japan, Europe and the US.

EPCH Executive Director, Rakesh Kumar, said the lace centre would prove to be immensely beneficial for those engaged in production, designing and exports of lace items. Artisans, entrepreneurs and exporters would benefit from regular visits of designers, who would guide them on developing new product lines.

The Council is making active efforts to promote handicraft clusters in Narsapur region, and the project forms a part of the Comprehensive Handicrafts Cluster Development Scheme of the Ministry of Textiles, he said.

The cluster development projects launched by EPCH at Jodhpur, Moradabad and Saharanpur have already proved to be successful.

Registering a year-on-year rise of over 30 percent, India exported Rs. 42.22 billion worth of handicraft items during first quarter of the current fiscal, which is much in line with the export target of Rs. 155 billion set for the current fiscal.

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