Finance Minister to present export awards on Dec 29

New Delhi, Dec 28: Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present awards to 129 exporters tomorrow in a ceremony organised by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), the apex body for promotion of handicrafts.

Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela will preside over the function and Minister of State for Textiles E V K S Elangovan will be the guest of honour.

The fifteenth edition of the awards will see exporters being awarded for top performance during the years 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Awards will be given for excellent performance both on national as well as regional basis.

The awards will be given in 21 product categories and in each product group exporters will be selected for trophy and merit certificates for excellent performance.

Another criterion for recognising the excellence is the growth rate in exports for which merit certificates will be awarded.

This year 44 trophies, 64 merit certificates, 11 merit certificates for excellent export growth and 10 merit certificates on regional performance basis will be distributed to the handicrafts exporting community.

Besides this 'Top Export Award' for the highest revenue earner and 'Women Entrepreneur Award' for the top performance among women exporters will be presented during the ceremnony.

UNI