India outstrips Germany and Italy in textile exports

Indian textiles and handicrafts sector performance at the global level is remarkably well, in terms of export revenue turnarounds it has managed to overtake both Germany and Italy, said Union Textiles Secretary Zohra Chatterjee at the Craft Heritage exhibition that was launched at the Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India on Tuesday. Mrs. Chatterjee said that India with 40 billion dollars in textile exports has moved to the second position from fourth, which is a matter of great pride for the country. Handicrafts, specially, have done exceedingly well. A growth of 22 percent was witnessed and it is likely to continue growing in the coming years. This has been achieved in the most difficult times, when other manufacturing sectors were not doing so well. Indian textiles have tremendous potential, and they will have everything going for them to improve their exports. The Craft Heritage exhibition is organized by CCICL with the aim for promoting handicrafts and handlooms as India has a rich heritage and through such exhibitions it can be promoted, said Anjali Rai, Chairperson of the CCICL. This particular exhibition is meant to promote the colorful handicrafts of Rajasthan and other states also. In the whole cottage emporium, all states represented, but this year, they have specially highlighted Rajasthan`s handicrafts. From all the corners of Rajasthan, something or the other has been taken, as different places has different variety. And, it has all made a beautiful collection. Pramod Nagpal, Managing Director, CCICL, said that Cottage (CCICL) from time to time keeps on organizing theme-based exhibitions. In these exhibitions, new designs and new products are launched. They are test marketed and the effort of cottage is that the craftsmen are made aware of new market trends while making their products. This year, they have organised 50 such theme-based exhibitions, which will be held across CCIC emporia`s in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. This is the first exhibition in this direction and they are trying to promote excellence in craft and taking them to wider audience across the country. Cottage is a fair pay organization. It directly purchases products from the craftsmens and there are no middlemen involve. The maximum part of the earnings i.e. sale proceeds is passed on to the artisans and weavers. The CCICL retails authentic Indian handicrafts and handlooms through its showrooms in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. The products are sourced from weavers, master weavers, artisans, craftpersons and master craftsmen, national awardees, shilp gurus and clusters. The customer footfalls, during the summers is between 600 to 800 visitors/ customers per day, while in the winter months, it was in excess of 2000 visitors/customers per day. However, in this season, they did not have too many foreign tourists visiting.