FDI will help add new flavours to Indian luxury market: Sharma

Commerce and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma listed out the benefits of FDI in retail to a largely rural audience in this Parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The recent policy initiatives and with the arrival of fashion brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, new flavours will be added to the Indian luxury market which will not only give consumers a better choice but also throw open a plethora of opportunities for our young designers, he said here.

He was speaking at the convocation ceremony of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) where Sonia handed over certificates to 38 students who graduated in courses like fashion design and accessory design.

The Congress chief also laid the foundation of the new building for NIFT.

Sharma exhorted the young fashion designers to strive for gaining credibility for Indian brands made by Indian people.

Officials said Swedish furniture maker IKEA has partnered with India's Handicrafts Department for design development and capacity building of Indian handicraftsmen and carpet weavers.

Export Promotion Council for Handicraft, the nodal body for handicraft, was in talks with IKEA to create Next-Gen programme for its Indian vendors to meet global compliance standards.

Through this programme, about 200 exporters would be trained to ensure that they follow the international best practices related to labour laws that prohibits child labour.

This is because US and European buyers emphasise that the products which they source from India should not be produced using child or forced labour.

IKEA plans to invest 1.5 billion euro (Rs 10,500 crore) in India to set up 25 stores.