Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Monday said his Ministry would hold talks with Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma for getting sops to the labour intensive handloom and handicraft sectors.
“Handloom and handicraft sectors need more incentives. We have been consistently emphasising to the Commerce Ministry that we need more to promote these sectors,” Mr. Maran told reporters after inaugurating the handloom expo here.
Mr. Sharma had recently said sops for labour intensive sectors such as handloom, handicraft and leathers sectors were on anvil.
Mr. Maran said his Ministry would take appropriate steps to prop up the handloom and handicraft sectors and also hold talks with the Commerce Ministry for promoting their exports.
“We will be talking closely with the Commerce Ministry. We have been asking a lot of things,” Mr. Maran added. On the prospects of textiles exports that turned positive in November after contracting for more than a year, Mr. Maran said everything had to be approached in a cautious manner as exports were dependent on external factors. Textiles exports posted a growth of about 5 per cent in November over the same month last year.
He said exports picked up due to demand revival in the European markets. “Recession in Europe has receded.
European markets are doing much better than the U.S. market,” he added.
Mr. Maran said the week-long handloom expo would have fashion shows and buyer-sellers meet at various locations across the country to promote handloom products.
He stressed on the need to provide marketing linkages to handloom clusters and said his Ministry was in talk with the Planning Commission to enhance allocation for this sector.
With a view to spreading awareness about the handloom products, handloom expos would be organised in Chennai, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Mumbai, Bhilai, Dehradun, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bangalore, Puri, Kannur, Tirupati, Dimapur, Sibsagar, Bhopal, Chandigarh, and Patna.
