The handicraft industry of Agra is lagging behind competitors due to the complete lack of technological advancements in the past few decades.
The alleged government apathy towards the concept of developing professional–level handicraft training institutions in the town and no export incentives to the handicraft industry are cited as the reasons for the industry’s diminishing presence in the export market.
According to industry sources, the Agra handicrafts industry exports handicrafts worth over Rs 500 crore per annum in various categories like inlay work on marble and other stones, zardozi, glass, carpets, rugs etc, but in terms of government provided incentives, the handicraft manufacturers and emporiums have only been exempted from the weekly market closures by the state government.
Apart from this relaxation that only promotes over-the-counter sales of handicrafts to tourists; no perks for exports have been ever announced for the handicraft exporters.
Prahlad Agarwal, chairman, UP Handicraft Development Center says the technology used by the handicrafts manufacturers of Agra in preparing their products is decades behind their contemporaries elsewhere in the world.
While this fact did attract quality-sensitive buyers for Agra handicrafts in international market, the low production volumes made it difficult for the local handicrafts exporters to fulfil large orders in time.
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The plight of marble handicrafts manufacturers was better due to their monopoly on the manufacture of Taj Mahal replicas and inlay work, but the soft-stone carving industry is witnessing a major drop in business due to several factors. These included acute power shortage as well as the imposition of VAT on stone.
According to Agarwal, the artisans trained their successors by themselves and as a result, the new generation of handicrafts artisans also used the same old technology as their predecessors, leaving no room for the latest technology.
He said that the local handicrafts industry had proposed opening a modern stone handicrafts training institute in a joint venture with the local handicrafts industry which could give a chance to the new entrants in this business to develop new handicraft-making skills, but there was no response from the government.