KIT: The Indian handicraft industry

Strategic tools for the practising manager

The handicraft industry the world over is estimated at $100 billion. India contributes around 1 per cent to it.

In India, handicrafts account for 1.5 per cent of the total exports. The industry here is highly labour-intensive and decentralised, concentrated in rural and semi-urban areas.

The US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Italy are the major handicraft export destinations for India.

India’s cultural diversity provides for a rich variety of handicraft. However, lack of infrastructure, innovation in product design and awareness of trends has resulted in slow growth of the industry.

The demand for handcrafted products is low because of factors such as high prices (as Indian consumers are price sensitive) and low consumer awareness about the novelty factor which these products have.