Woodware items top export product of Handicraft sector: MoS Darshana Jardosh

New Delhi, Dec 15 (KNN) The export of handicraft products including via e-commerce platforms has increased by 26.2 in the financial year 2021-22 and the top exported product were the woodware items worth Rs 7,891 crore, said Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Jardosh in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Other top export items included embroidered and crocheted goods amounting to Rs 5,674 crore, art metal wares worth Rs 4,179 crore, handprinted textiles worth Rs 2,995 crore and more.

Citing data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) Jardosh noted that export of handicraft products in financial year 2021-22 have reached Rs 32,417 crore from Rs 25,679 crore in the previous financial year.

Moreover, a total of 397 domestic and 55 international marketing events were organized in FY21 and FY22, the minister said.

The growth in handicraft exports gains significance as the MSME count in the handicrafts sector has also registered growth. According to the data shared by the minister of state for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma in the parliament last week, there were 15.07 lakh Udyam-registered MSMEs out of total Udyam registrations in handloom, handicraft and agro-based production sector and employed 43.15 lakh women employees across India.

Handicraft is among the important sectors for the government from the growth and export perspective as well. Earlier in November this year, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India today had said that India’s handicrafts are a living heritage as he appealed to all consumers of handicrafts to appreciate local and be vocal about it.

He also noted that the handicraft industry in India is dominated by female artisans who form over 56 per cent of the total artisans.

Meanwhile, the government currently runs the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme to focus on every district as a unit to convert it into a manufacturing and export hub by identifying products with export potential including handicrafts in the district.

The ODOP GeM Bazaar was launched on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in August this year with over 200 product categories to promote sales and procurement of ODOP products across the country.  (KNN Bureau)