2.5k exhibitors showcase their creativity at 53rd Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair

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The 53rd edition of the five-day Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF) kicked off in Greater Noida on Wednesday with the launch of a B2B e-commerce platform that aims to promote small-scale artisans of India to the global markets.

The fair, organised by the Export Promotion Council of Handicrafts, is being held at India Exposition Mart and more than 2,500 exhibitors are showcasing their crafts to over 3,000 national and international buyers under one roof.

On the first day of the fair, ExpoBazaar, a subsidiary of India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, was launched through which Indian businesses can market their products to ready-to-buy and verified independent retailers and small businesses across the globe.

“The platform has also opened to Northern America markets on Wednesday and is slated to launch in Australia and Europe later this year. The platform has been under works for the last one year during which we reached out to small-scale artisans and handicraft manufacturers through our existing networks. Our team curated each of the products in accordance with international standards to make sure that buyers get the best quality products that resonate with the current demand in the markets,” said Jiten Prasher, vice-president, ExpoBazaar.

Prasher added that a warehouse in the US has also been launched on Wednesday wherein products from the local artisans listed on the portal will be stored, so that buyers can be provided with delivery within a few days instead of waiting for the product to be shipped from India.

In addition to this, the fair also saw the participation of local artisans from different states of India who have been trained to promote their handicrafts by the India Exposition Mart.

“India has a vast industry of local artisans and craftspeople who are very talented but are unable to sell their crafts as they are not able to find the right channels. We connected to these people through local self-help groups, NGOs, micro-enterprises and other such organisations and trained them to become entrepreneurs through a five-day virtual training session”, said Harbinder Singh, programme director at the India Exposition Mart.

“Craftspeople were taught product development, marketing, product photography, creating inventories and other skills needed to make their products match international standards,” added Singh. He said that the programme was started in September 2021 and has so far trained over 1,500 artisans.

Dharmender Kumar, a small-scale exporter of handmade products from Laxmi Nagar in Delhi said that the programme helped him curate new designs in accordance with the requirements of customers.

“Our family has been creating handmade products out of neem wood for generations now. However, as the old methods of selling seemed to have died down, our business started getting affected. However, here we were taught about how to catch new market trends, how to create product designs in accordance with customers’ requirements and so on. This has helped me take my business to a larger level,” Kumar said.

The fair is also seeing exhibits from Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir and seven northeastern states for the first time, said sources.

“Lately, sustainability has become the buzzword in international markets and organic, sustainable and eco-friendly products from the Himalayan states have found a new customer base on a global scale. However, those artisans need guidance in order to make their products global. This is where IHGF comes into play,” said Rakesh Kumar, director general, Export Promotion Council of Handicrafts.

Exhibitors at the fair said that after a lull in business due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they are hoping for a boom in export in the coming days.

“Buyers are visiting us from all across the globe and we are very enthusiastic to see the robust demand from them. Export is going to boom in the coming days, especially in the textile segment,” said Viraat Singh, an exhibitor at the fair and apparel exporter from Sector 58 in Noida.


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