Greater Noida :Ms. Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles declared open the four-day-long third edition of Asia’s highly specialized and product-segmented mega triple show Home Expo India (HEI-2014), organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), at a colourful ceremony at the world class venue of India Expo Centre and Mart here today.
While inaugurating the mega triple show, the Secretary stressed that “there is a need to do some extra work in expanding our exports base to other non-traditional markets which have considerable buying powers and where the standard of living has been on increase. Even though, the size of market may not be as large as is available in the traditional markets of Europe and USA, we need to make some extra efforts to devote our energies to the markets in Central Asia, West Asia, South East Asia and Latin American regions.”
The export performance of these sectors during the last years has been very impressive and that the growth in furniture and accessories exports has been: 47.56%, in furnishing, floorings and textiles 27.45%, houseware and decorative 21.42%, she observed.
Home Expo India represents the products which have largest growth rate in the International market as they mostly relate to consumer’s requirement. India has a very versatile production base in all segments of home requirement and the raw material base is so wide and large that it can produce different types and different designs. “What is needed is adaption and innovation in presentation and usages,” she added.
The Secretary suggested that perhaps the exporting community on their own also need to divert their attention from main and easily accessible markets to those markets where extra efforts are required and who will provide us safe ground in difficult times in future.
Ms Chatterji said that she has been informed by EPCH that “Autumn edition of Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Fair is being launched as a Mega event with Bigger space, Grander display with more product categories and Longer in duration. Extensive publicity and promotion amongst buying community overseas is being done by EPCH with the help of International design experts to induce and encourage more and more buyers of different product categories to visit the forthcoming mega event in October, 2014.”
She said that the Ministry of Textiles will extend all necessary support in the ambitious venture of Autumn edition of IHGF 2014 which is being launched as a Mega event in which around 6,000 buyers, importers and representative are expected to result in much more larger orders, trade enquiries and tie ups.
The Secretary lauded the role of the Council in successfully promoting handicrafts trade through trade fairs during the last more than 15 years or so. Of late, EPCH has branched out to specialized fairs which is in keeping with the trends in the International market. It is expected that Council would be concentrating more on specialized shows than on general shows.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr. Lekhraj Maheshwari, Chairman of EPCH, said that the Home Expo India 2014 is laying emphasis on display of products from Jammu & Kashmir. Last year, the focus was on tribal belts of India like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
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