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PRESS RELEASE |
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About IIHF – 2011:
The India International Handwoven Fair, organized by Handloom Export Promotion Council is the first of its kind in India to showcase exclusive products of handloom industry to buyers of the world community. This will be held at Chennai Trade Centre from 16th to 18th February, 2011. The event will showcase the best home textiles in quality and design from all over India.
The major handloom clusters are Karur, Madurai Kannur & Panipat, where handloom products like Bed linen, Table linen, Kitchen linen, Toilet linen, Floor coverings, embroidered textile materials, curtains etc. are produced for export markets.
The Industry which produced only traditional fabrics and dress materials during earlier periods has transformed into an industry which produces made-ups and home textile items in order to cater to the needs of the world market.
Nearly 80 manufacturers and exporters of handloom products across the country are exhibiting their products in the event and more than 50 foreign buyers across the globe will be visiting this fair for their sourcing purposes. The buyers’ profile includes countries such as U.S.A., U.K., Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Kuwait, UAE, Serbia, Indonesia, Uganda, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Kazhakstan, Ukraine, Ireland, Nepal etc.
The fair will be inaugurated by Smt. Rita Menon, I.A.S., Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India at 11. a.m. on 16-2-2011. Shri R. Rajagopal, I.A.S., Principal Secretary has agreed to be the Chief Guest for the Fashion Show by “Rehane” at 6.30 p.m. on 16-2-2011. Shri R.N. Choubey, I.A.S., Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Govt. of India has also agreed to be the Chief Guest for the Bharathanatyam & Fusion by Ms. Shobana at 6.30 p.m. on 17-2-2011 followed by Prize distribution.
About HEPC:
Handloom Export Promotion Council is a nodal agency set up by Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles, to promote the exports of handloom products from India. As per the Foreign Trade Policy of Govt. of India, HEPC is the registering authority for exporters of handloom products in India.
HEPC was constituted in the 1965 with 96 members and its present membership exceeds 1700 spread across the Country. HEPC has its Head Office at Chennai and its Regional Office at New Delhi.
The primary objective of HEPC is to provide all support and guidance to the Indian Handloom Exporters and International Buyers for trade promotion and International marketing.
The Council has over the years taken up many promotional activities to assist exporters such as providing market information, helping them to participate in International fairs and Buyer Seller Meets. The Council also disseminates information by holding Seminars and Workshops.
The gap between the Government and exporters is bridged by the Council by passing on relevant information both ways.
The Council also takes up product development and marketing assistance.
All these activities are being taken up with the financial assistance from Development Commissioner for Handlooms and Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
In short, HEPC acts not only as a facilitator for export promotion, but also as an advisory body to Government of India to formulate the policies relating to handloom industry.
The Council has also been taking up special measures such as giving awards to the top most exporters, bringing out various colour catalogues synchronizing the Pantone numbers to guide the exporters in following the colour and trend patterns prevailing in overseas markets, bringing out various publications for the benefit of handloom industry.
One of the important initiative that HEPC undertook in the recent past is setting up of Design Studios in various parts of our Country.
The first Design Studio was commissioned at Kannur in Kerala during 2008 and the second one has been set up at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh during September 2010.
Further, HEPC is in the process of establishing Design Centres at Coimbatore (Tamilnadu), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa), Varanasi/Sitapur (U.P.)
Another important initiative that HEPC has undertaken is to organize this International Fair exclusively for handloom products at Chennai Trade Centre from 16th to 18th February, 2011, which will be a regular annual event henceforth.
About Govt. Schemes:
Govt. of India has announced various schemes to promote the exports from our Country and they are either duty neutralization schemes or export promotional schemes.
As you are aware, Duty Drawback or DEPB Scheme are the duty neutralization schemes and HEPC has already requested the Ministry to increase the rates of duty drawback for the benefit of handloom exporters.
Apart from the Duty Neutralization Schemes, Govt. of India has announced some special schemes such as Focus Market Schemes, Focus Product Scheme.
Under Focus Market Scheme, the Government has identified some distant and unexplored markets and the exporters who are exporting their products to these Countries are eligible for the benefit of duty scrip of 3%.
Under Focus Product Scheme, the exports of handloom products, which are covered under 31 ITC (HS) Codes, are eligible for a duty scrip of 2%.
Now, in the recently announced Foreign Trade Policy on 23rd August, 2010, an additional benefit of 2% bonus, over and above the existing benefit of 2% under Focus Product Scheme has been announced by the Hon’ble Minister of Commerce and Industry.
With this, now, Handloom products are eligible for 4% duty scrip on FOB value of their exports.
In addition duty free import of specified trimmings and embellishments shall be available on Handloom made-ups exports @ 5% of FOB value of exports.
Further, Govt. of India has extended the Interest Subvention of 2% for pre-shipment credit till 31-3-2011.
Moreover, the popular and exporter friendly Duty Entitlement Passbook (DEPB) scheme has also been extended beyond 31-12-2010 till 30-6-2011.
However, members should be aware that this is the last extension for DEPB and no more extension will be available, since India has to comply with WTO requirements.
Govt. of India has also initiated an ‘e-RCMC’ in which the Export Promotion Councils would upload the RCMC data of their members on DGFT’s website only once, thereby reducing the procedural burden of repeated submissions and associated cost and time.
About Exports:
With the initiatives that the Govt. of India has undertaken, our exports have reached Rs. 1252.80 crores during 2009-10. The Govt. of India has fixed a target of US $ 300 million (Rs. 1350 crores) for the year 2010-11 and HEPC has taken all efforts to achieve this target.
Among the importing countries, U.S.A. is the leading importer of handloom products contributing nearly 42% of our exports. EU as a group contributes nearly 33% of our exports. After U.S.A., Germany, U.K., France, Italy are the leading importers in EU. Followed in the list are Australia, U.A.E. and Japan occupying 6,7 and 8th positions respectively.
Among the products of exports toilet linen & kitchen linen tops the list followed by Table cloth and Table Covers, Cushion covers, Printed Bed linen, Pillow cases, other Furnishing articles, Napkins, Mats and Mattings including Bathmats etc.
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