Identify export promotion council which can promote furniture exports: Com Min to DGFT

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The Commerce Ministry has asked its foreign trade arm DGFT to identify the export promotion council which can work for promoting exports of furniture from India, an official said.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) looks at export and import policy related issues.

The issue of promoting exports of furniture from India was raised by Trade Promotion Council of India Chairman Mohit Singla in a meeting called by Commerce Ministry on October 24.

In that meeting, the export potential of machine made furniture was discussed, the official said.

It was stated that there is a scope to develop and increase furniture exports to an amount of USD 10 billion (about Rs 71,000 crore) from the existing USD 400 million (about Rs 2,800 crore).

Currently, the ambit of furniture exports falls under three different export promotion councils, depending on the type of furniture.

The government funds these sector specific councils to promote exports from the country.

"DGFT was asked to identify the export promotion council which would dedicatedly work for promoting furniture exports," the official added.

Singla said that global furniture exports currently stand at USD 264 billion and half of the market share is controlled by five countries - China, Germany, Poland, Italy and Vietnam.

He said there is a need to develop a mega cluster of furniture in the country as mostly MSME units are engaged in the sector.

"The position of India in the furniture sector is quite weak owing to a largely fragmented unorganised sector and mostly handicraft variants. The size of the furniture industry in India is about USD 5 billion, and currently employs around 3.5 lakh people," he said.

He added that achieving production levels, quality and design standards set by the international markets is the key for these micro and small players to maximise their potential and contribute towards the growth of the sector.

"Cluster based development would help to synergize their existing resources and provide opportunity for these players to acquire technology, access capital, upgrade skills, encourage indigenous design and benefit MSME units to handle large orders or cater to the need of the international buyers," Singla said.