GREATER NOIDA: The 43rd edition of the Indian Gifts and Handicrafts Fair (IHGF-Delhi) 2017 closed on Monday with business enquiries worth Rs 1700 crore, 200 more buyer participation from last year and maximum buyers from countries like USA - 625, Germany - 211, UK - 376, France-277 and more.
The five-day fair, which was held at the India Expo Centre and Mart at Greater Noida Expressway from Feb 16 -20, was a B2B event with more than 3000 exhibitors including 900 permanent marts from all across the country showcasing 14 product categories to over 6500 foreign buyers from more than 80 countries.
According to Rakesh Kumar, executive director Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) which organised the fair, buyers from 91 countries visited this year to witness products in 14 segments of handicrafts in home, lifestyle, fashion, gifts and furniture and more. "The overseas buyers' participation increased from 4700 last year to 4900 this year. The fair generated business enquiries worth Rs 1700 crore this year," said Kumar.
"While maximum buyers came from USA - 625, UK - 376, France -277, Germany - 211, others included Italy -192, Australia - 175, Japan - 149, Netherland -147, Spain -135 and China -105. Their main focus was on products such as furniture and accessories, furnishing and home textiles, houseware, decorative and gifts," said Dinesh Kumar, chairman EPCH.
Besides overseas buyers, a large number of domestic retail buyers and e-commerce companies visited the show and entered retail volume sales, said ED Kumar who added that "more than 26 entrepreneurs from north east and 10 from Jodhpur mega cluster participated in the fair with concepts in leather, home furnishing, wood, iron, horn and bone products," said Kumar.
Further, in its initiative to encourage entrepreneurship in handicrafts sector, an MoU was also signed between EPCH and IIFT for setting up incubation centres at craft clusters. "A pilot incubation centre has already been initiated at Moradabad Resource Centre. EPCH and IIFT aims to create 5,000 entrepreneurs in next five years through these," said Kumar.
EPCH also took an initiative to implement the Integrated Design and Technical Development Project by engaging designers from leading design institutes of India to impart training to artisans. Under this, a total of 40 artisans, mostly women from Jodphur, Bhubaneswar and Narsapur (trained by these designers) were brought to showcase their skills at the fair. "The aim of this project is to engage new generation of artisans who are drifting away from their family craft / practice, to guide artisans towards bringing out products as per market demand / suitability as well as revive languishing crafts," said Kumar.
The exports of handicrafts during the latest period April-January 2016-17 have registered a growth of 13.06% in rupee terms and stands at Rs 20282.18 crore. However, the growth in dollar terms is 9.43 % with exports of US $ 3018.58 million. The export target of US$ 3600 million (Rs 23560.00 crores) is set for the year 2016-17.
EPCH is a nodal agency for promotion and development of handicrafts exports from the country and create a brand image of Indian handcrafted products world over. EPCH has more than 11,000 membership base from all over the country.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com