Handicrafts and gifts fair opens tomorrow

The world's largest handicrafts and gifts fair opens here tomorrow, offering buyers a wide variety of home, lifestyle, decoratives, fashion and textiles products under one roof.
The IHGF-Delhi Fair Spring 2017 will be open from February 16-20.
More than 3,000 exhibitors from across the country will be showcasing products in categories like houseware, home furnishing, furniture, lamps and lighting, fashion jewellery and accessories, spa and wellness, carpets and rugs, bathroom accessories, educational toys and leather bags.
"Over 6,500 foreign buyers from around 80 countries, buying agents based in India and domestic retail volume buyers are expected to visit the mega fair to source their requirements," EPCH Executive Director Rakesh Kumar said.

Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) is the organiser of the fair and a nodal agency for promotion and development of handicraft exports from the country.
One of the highlights of the show will be a thematic display of products from North Eastern region and Jodhpur.

A theme pavilion on wooden handicrafts items produced from legally procured wood and certified under Vriksh -- an indigenous Indian timber legality assessment and verification scheme -- will also be set up.
Seminars related to production techniques, skill development, trends and forecast, discussion on Union Budget and the forthcoming GST would also be held.

"The exports of handicrafts during April-December 2016 registered a growth of 12.10 per cent in rupee terms and stood at Rs 17,937.05 crore. The growth in dollar terms is 8.25 per cent with exports of USD 2,673.48 million," Textiles Ministry said.
Kumar said the export target for 2016-17 is USD 3,600 million.