Exports of handicrafts from the country have been affected deeply due to the ongoing recessionary trends blowing across the world. To add to the crisis, was the Mumbai fallout, which has led to a lower number of tourists visiting India in the peak winter season, who are also one of the biggest buyers of Indian handicrafts.

To help the sector in arresting fall in sales, the government has come out with some important measures like hiking incentives to the sector, product diversification, modernizing equipments and looking for new markets in a bid to make the handicraft industry survive through the throes of the crisis.

The government is contemplating exploring markets which have very good potential, but have not been touched till now. Among those regions are the Latin American countries, where promotional events will also be held in a bid to capture the minds and hearts of the consumers.

Recently a buyer-seller meet was held in the capital of Columbia which helped the Indian side to promote handicrafts to the local buyers of handicrafts. A similar event is being planned for the Middle East country; Oman.

The government is also mulling over giving a new touch to Indian handicrafts by diversifying product design by taking help of international designers. The global slow down according to sources, is affecting the lives of nearly 7 million artisans involved in the sector.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India