Handloom corp identifies 17 cities for handicraft stores

Gujarat State Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd (GSHHDC), an undertaking of Gujarat, is looking for franchisees across the country.

The corporation has also zeroed-in on 17 cities across India. The officials of the corporation say that the demand for Gujarati handicrafts is growing in the country.

GSHHDC already has three franchisees in the state but seeing the growing demand for traditional Gujarati handicraft the corporation has selected 17 cities where it would like to have its franchisees instead of opening up their own showrooms.

Talking to Business Standard, Managing Director of Gurjari S K Chaturvedi said, "We have selected 17 cities where we do not have a presence yet. We have invited proposals from the interested parties from these cities. The cities include Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Chennai, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Secunderabad, Kanpur, Allahabad, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Gwalior, Agra, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur and Patna. The franchisees will be marketing handlooms and handicraft products under the brandname of Garvi-Gurjari."

Elaborating on this S T Vaghela, the corporation officer who looks after the franchisee operations, said, "We already have 19 showrooms of our own, which includes two in Ahmedabad, two in Kolkata, one each in Anand, Bangalore, Baroda, Bhuj, Bharuch, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Rajpipla, Rajkot, Surat and Surendranagar. However, we cannot afford to have our own showrooms everywhere because of the real estate costs, so we have started appointing franchisees. At present, we have three franchisees in the state, one each in Morbi, Kilapardi and in Junagadh. We have invited proposals for franchisees from the cities where we don't have presence. Kanpur is the only place where we would like to have a franchisee though we have our own showroom there." However, Vaghela added that till now they have not received any proposals.

"We will start receiving proposals when demand for our embroidery and is increasing across India and we have registered good sales last year," Vaghela said.

The responsibilities of GSHHDC include providing employment to artisans and weavers, supply of raw materials, imparting training in modern techniques, supply of modern tool kits, procurement of goods among others.