Exports of handloom products from India are expected to witness a decline in the current financial year due to the slow down in demand from the foreign markets, according to a higher official of the Handloom Exports Promotion Council (HEPC).
The council is expecting the handloom exports to be at around Rs 2,000 crore this year, as compared to the exports target of Rs 2,250 crore, owing to the purchasing power of buyers coming down in the target markets, said HEPC chairman P Gopalakrishnan.
“We expect a slow down in the export markets, especially in the US and Europe,” he said.
The council, however, expects the rupee depreciation to help the exporters gain more value for their products. “We may cross the target with the current scenario where the value of the rupee is going down,” he added.
Currently, the US is the largest importer of handloom products from India. Around 30 per cent of the total exports of handloom products from the country goes to the US, while close to 10 per cent of the exports goes to Germany. The UK, France, Italy and Belgium are some of the European countries that import Indian handloom products.
In 2010-11, exports had exceeded the HEPC’s target of $300 million (approximately Rs 1,350 crore) to touch Rs 1,700 crore. The council had set an export target of Rs 2,250 crore for the financial year 2011-12.
The handloom industry is looking at the government support on various issues including exemption from customs duty on importing machinery and equipment and increasing duty scrip rates on par with the handicrafts sector.
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The industry is currently facing a shortage of adequate workforce, and the total number of looms and workers are decreasing year after year, Gopalakrishnan said.
At present, there are around 4.3 million workers and 2.3 million looms in India, of which around 3.6 million workers and 2 million looms are in the hinterlands. Of the total workforce, around 2.9 million are weavers while the remaining are support staff. The handloom sector currently contributes around 11.5 per cent to the total textiles production sector, he added.