Handicrafts and Gifts Fair generates business over Rs 1,250 cr

New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) The Indian Handcrafts and Gifts Fair 2007 (IHGF-2007) Spring, has generated a business worth over Rs 1,250 crore during its five-day exposition at the India Expo Centre and Mart (IECM) on the Greater Noida Expressway.

The 23rd edition of the fair, known as Asia's largest gifts and handicrafts fair, organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) under the aegis of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), concluded here yesterday.

More than 7,000 foreign buyers visited the fair from different countries to source their requirements under one roof spread over diverse segments.

About 2,000 leading Indian producers and exporters had showcased around 800 varieties of their products to make a dent in the 235 billion dollar world gifts market.

The Government has a target to achieve a turnover of over Rs 48,000 crore and market share of four per cent in the global trade by the end of eleventh Five Year Plan.

EPCH Executive Director Rakesh Kumar informed that buyers had come from US, Canada, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, Greece, Hungary, Czech, Poland, Australia, Japan, Kong Hong, New Zealand and countries from Latin America, Central Asia and West Asia.

Today the handicraft exports from India account for more than 3,300 million dollars. The handicrafts industry employs more than six million skilled and semi-skilled craftspersons all over the country, predominantly in rural and semi-rural areas.

UNI