Nondescript towns on global map, courtesy handicraft

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 12

Towns like Patiala in Punjab, Kundli and Panipat in Haryana and Meerut Khurja, Moradabad and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh were nondescript for handicraft till a few years ago. However, the scenario has changed now with hundreds of exporters and export houses active in these areas and promoting regional art and craftsmanship in the global markets.

This has not only given a fillip to the rural art but it has also resulted in better remuneration for the artisans with many of them graduating from workers to entrepreneurs. Mohammed Mumtaz, a handbag manufacturer in the NCR region who used to be a worker in a factory earlier, now employs around 30-35 workers.

“There is a huge demand for leather handbags in the export market. Earlier, we used to supply to the domestic market but remuneration is almost double if we cater to the export market. So we are working with an export house now,” he said. Similarly, over four dozen micro-level artisans in Panipat are engaged in exports of stuffed seating stools which are in a great demand in Germany.

According to the artisans, the Indian handicraft industry has had the status of cottage industry over the years, but it has shown a promising growth and evolved as one of the major revenue generators in recent times. It has shown a continuous growth of 15-20% in the past few years.

“The state and regional clusters contribute significantly to handicraft exports. The Indian handicraft industry is fragmented with more than seven million regional artisans and over 67,000 exporters/export houses promoting regional art and craftsmanship in the domestic and global markets,” said Leo Shastri, Director, Usha Exim Pvt Ltd. Earlier, e-commerce major Flipkart had collaborated with handicraft makers in Punjab and Phulkari to market their products online.

However, the pandemic and labour shortage have hit the exports. “Due to the pandemic, the exports of jewellery and home décor products have been immensely hit. The government should take steps to revive the exports and hike incentives so that the exporters can recover input costs,” said Shastri.