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Indian heritage... .foreign buyers
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Carpets and clocks. Chandeliers and candelabrums. All this and much more was on offer at the Indian Handicraft and Gifts Fair, Spring 2003 in New Delhi this past Sunday. MADHUR TANKHA takes a walk to this paradise for foreign buyers, ha ving a glance at the India Carpet Expo too... .
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Foreign visitors at the Pragati Maidan Fair in New Delhi this past week. Photos: Sandeep Saxena.
SHOWCASING INDIA'S rich cultural heritage, the Indian Handicraft and Gifts Fair, Spring 2003, began on a promising note for exporters. This four-day exhibition that concluded this past Sunday was held at New Delhi's Pragati Maidan.
The fair presented a fine opportunity for exporters keen to get across to prospective buyers and then use their business acumen to negotiate the deal at a favourable price. The halls naturally swarmed with foreign buyers. Items like candelabrums, idols of Gods and Goddesses, lanterns, chandeliers and curios were available and placed aesthetically. Clocks with anachronistic looks, floor coverings with kaleidoscopic colours and products made from eco-friendly mediums like cane, bamboo and natural fibre enthralled the discerning foreigners.
The buyers often transacted the deal in American dollars and other currencies, which the Reserve Bank of India accepts. Exhibitors seemed to enjoy the profits. "We have wall hangings, candle stands and lightings. These products come to us raw from Saharanpur, Jodhpur and some parts of Delhi. We have registered sales of three-and-a-half-lakh dollars," Kshitij Kumar, an exhibitor of R.R.Industries disclosed.
Foreign visitors at the Pragati Maidan Fair in New Delhi this past week. Photos: Sandeep Saxena.
Kamal Soni of Vallabh Metal Inc. informed about different nature of buyers, "Buyers would mostly be placing the orders in March after selecting samples. There are some who clinch the deal on the spot while there are others who talk to their respective offices before striking the deal. After we have received the approval from their side we give the production orders. It takes about 60 days for producing items and then shipping takes one-and-a-half month."
For those searching for carpets, there was India Carpet Expo-2003 too. Chairman of Carpet Export Promotion Council, Vijay Thakur said that carpet exporters were encouraged in a different way this time. They were made to design with designers from National Institute of Fashion Technology for the United Nations Development Project. To surpass China, instruments and tools with innovative technology were procured.
"Carpets sold here were mostly from Kashmir, Bhadoi, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Agra, Panipat and Jaipur. Besides upgrading technology, designers came out with new colour schemes as carpet has now come to become a fashion item," Thakur added.
Not that exporters were all happy with the Government. They lamented that the Government isn't doing enough to give them a platform to compete with China. As this industry was generating employment and sustaining those reeling under poverty, some of them wanted lowering of interest rate as they had to borrow money from the banks.
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