Handicrafts exports grew by about 14 per cent to $204 million in April year-on-year, mainly driven by the growing demand from the US and European markets.
Exports during April last fiscal stood at $179.9 million, according to the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) data.
The council expects the exports growth to continue in the current fiscal.
“We expect the exports to touch $2.7 billion in 2011-12 due to increasing demand not only from the US and Europe, but also from emerging markets like Middle East, Latin America and Africa,” the EPCH Executive Director, Mr Rakesh Kumar, said.
The US and Europe together account for about 60 per cent of the country’s handicraft shipments.
Among the items that registered the maximum growth in exports were wood wares (26.9 per cent), followed by imitation jewellery (21 per cent), shawls as art wares (19 per cent), miscellaneous handicrafts (15 per cent) and art metal wares (13.49 per cent).
Moradabad, Jaipur, Saharanpur, Jodhpur and Narsapur are the major handicraft hubs catering to world markets, employing one million people.
During April-March 2010-11, handicrafts shipments jumped about 26 per cent to $2.3 billion compared to the previous fiscal.
The growth is in sync with the country’s total merchandise exports growth which registered the highest-ever growth of 37.5 per cent to $245.9 billion in 2010-11.