The second story which caught my attention was that the Indian government is all set to provide more incentives to some of the “not to strong” sectors including the handicrafts industry. Even though the handicraft sector did achieve its target, it still remains one of the most fragile sectors wherein the growth is not comprehensive or stable. Sources say, the measures will be announced in the mid of January.
An industry-wide performance analysis done by the Government of India has revealed that labour intensive sectors such as apparel and handicrafts, need additional measures for growth consolidation before they could become self sustainable in the long run.
All this drives across one point that the current Indian government is quite serious about the issues of small to mid level industries and is taking up aggressive measures to address their concerns.
As of now, the value of Indian handicraft exports is not very significant, however, it still remains one of the big source of employment. The US continues to remain the largest market for Indian handicraft exporters, followed by the UK. The US and EU together account for 70 per cent of the total handicrafts exports from India.
The Indian handicrafts exports were hit hard due to the global economic slowdown. Almost after 11 months of gloom, exports turned positive from September 2009. In all fairness, we can say that, by the end of 2010 the handicraft industry is poised for some serious growth and position itself as an important player in the world market.
At the start of this blog I also talked about an interesting phrase; here it is 'Hammocks to Switzerland, pottery to Greece'. This seems to be the new mantra adopted by Indian handicrafts exporters, which loosely means exporting Indian crafts to newer destinations.
There is something about the end of December that gives everyone a ray of hope that the next year may change their fortune for good. With all the measures that have been announced or are yet to be announced, handicrafts exporters expect better and more profitable 2011.
PS : handicrafts exporters get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on Indian handicrafts manufacturers
“A guy walks up to me and asks 'What's Punk?'. So I kick over a garbage can and say 'That's punk!'. Then he kicks over the garbage can and asks “That's Punk?', I say 'No, that's trend!'” -
Billie Joe Armstrong
News reports confirm that India's handicrafts industry is in a healthy state and is poised for further growth. As last heard, India's handicraft export grew by about 19 per cent (approx. over $154.16 million) in May, thanks to the increasing demand from the US market.
Another report confirms the surge and even predicted that buoyed by an increase in demand from the US and Europe, India's handicraft exports may even touch the Rs 10,000 crore mark in the current fiscal year.
Among such rosy predictions we decided to delve deep into the so called forecasts and do a reality check ourselves for the upcoming trends and challenges. Below is a sneak peek on what can Indian handicrafts exporters expect in the upcoming year.
Use of protectionist measures from the western economies
Loss of employment, crashing markets and dwindling economy will result in open advocacy of protectionist measures in the next few months. The concept of Globalization would be challenged by it own very founding fathers.
Aggressive Chinese intrusion
China is on the rise. Its manufacturing units are more than prepared to flood the market with their surplus product, in an attempt to change the rules of the way trade is conducted worldwide.
Demand for non controversial work conditions
Developed countries will use this as one of the weapon from their artillery to counter the industrial growth of developing economies. This holds the potential to create a major stand off among the world leaders specially at the G-20 meet ups. In addition to that, businesses will be encouraged (with more intensity) to use greener technologies and cleaner resources to manufacture their products.
Heavy usage of social media / online promotion
More and more companies will create their online presence. Usage of social media will gradually speed up and push companies to change the way they conduct their business over the net. SEO will find it more challenging to maintaining their clients reputation online.
Emergence of demand for indian goods specially from the new locations
So far the US and EU together account for 70 per cent of the country's handicraft export. However the slump in economy has challenged the power equations across the globe resulting in emergence of new locations with growing buying power. Make no mistake , new markets like Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe are the next exciting names to do business with.
Conclusion
Overall the picture looks somewhat balanced, reflecting upon the upcoming challenges and showing a ray of hope as well that a solid platform has been setup for Indian handicrafts exporters to take on the world stage. Hope 2011 prove to be an exciting year for the Indian handicrafts exporters and their sales surges to record levels.
PS : handicrafts exporters get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on handicrafts manufacturers
The latest buzz in the Indian handicrafts market is about the recent revelation that, the handicraft industry stands at $100 billion worldwide and India has just 1.2% of this market. Rubbing the salt on the wounds is another fact that, China, Indonesia and Vietnam are the biggest three exporters of handicrafts, across the globe.
Even though Indian handicrafts industry is showing signs of improvement (the first half of the current financial year was $1.07 billion, about 24 per cent up from $864 million achieved in the first half of last year), the matter of fact is - it is still miles away from the coveted top 3 slots. Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran recently announced that his Ministry would give top priority to put together schemes and other initiatives to promote marketing of handicrafts and handloom products. His ministry has set an export target of $2.2 billion, exclusively for handicrafts segment.
Many small exporters, owe their under performance to three main factors: unavailability of information regarding market demands, their small size and use of obsolete machinery /technology.
India has many USPs to help it become one of the major exporters globally. These factors are
Easy availability of labour, that too at at cheap price.
Easy availability of raw materials.
High domestic consumption.
The handicrafts industry provides livelihood for more than six million artisans out of which a big share is constituted by women artisans usually from the weaker sections of the society.
US, Canada, France, Britain, Italy, and Germany have been the biggest importers of Indian handicrafts products. One of the encouraging sign, is the development in sectors like retail, real estate etc. which has increased the demand for the handicraft products in the urban sector.
Despite of all the positive signs which we have discussed above, there are some problem areas as well (mainly with the small scale handicrafts segment )
Lack of application of new technological innovations despite of awareness.
Lack of funds for setting up handicraft firms/factories etc.
Inability to stay in touch with the ever changing trends and market demands.
Lack of adequate infrastructure.
Image problem - The industry is confined to small cities and rural areas and is not considered a lucrative career option.
Slowly but gradually things are improving in the indian handicrafts sector. With the renewed interest from the present government, the Indian handicrafts industry seems to be well on its way to speedy recovery. Corporates too have started taking keen interest in the handicraft sector which would further accelerate its growth. Many handicrafts exporters are also using online media as a distribution channel for tapping the western market. Hopefully in the times to come, Indian Handicrafts Exporters would be able to script one of the remarkable success stories of all times.
PS : Indian handicrafts exporters get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on Indian handicrafts manufacturers
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