Uptick in handicrafts exports may continue: Maran

With the handicrafts exports turning positive after a long gap of 11 months, the government today said the uptick is likely to continue as the Western economies have started recovering from the financial meltdown.

"I think the downward trend has stopped and we are expecting a positive trend in exports of handicrafts," Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters on the sidelines of annual handicrafts exports awards here today.

"In fact, if we compare it (handicrafts exports) year-on-year, we see a positive growth, but we want to be cautious," the minister added.

Handcrafted exports, which turned positive in September this year after falling for 11 months in a row due to the global recession, jumped 400 per cent $26.32 million (around Rs 122 crore) in October compared to $5.27 million (around Rs 24 crore) October last year.

"For the Christmas and the New Year season, we start getting orders from September onwards and this time we are getting good orders compared to last year," Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts Chairman Raj Malhotra had said.

However, during April-October exports fell by 18.07 per cent to $864.12 million (around Rs 4,000 crore) against $1,054.75 million (around Rs 4,900 crore) in the same period last year.

Further, Maran said, "recently, we launched mega clusters at Moradabad and Narsapur to provide a comprehensive range of services to these clusters to make their products innovative and exports friendly."