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As part of its ongoing commitment to the Indian Handicrafts sector, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) is organizing a three-day Indian Handicrafts & Gifts Sourcing Summit, which is being attended by over 550 participants, covering various aspects of the trade and industry, started at the India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida, from Thursday.

The exports of handicrafts including hand-knotted carpets have increased marginally by 3.05% over the year-ago period due to the global slump in demand.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the handicrafts sector have witnessed substantial export fall amounting to around 50 percent since 2007, said an official from the Export Promotion Council of Handicrafts (EPCH).

The nation's handicrafts exports have shown an impressive growth of over 60 percent in February due to growing demand for items in major global markets including the US and Europe.

Indian handicraft exporters are facing dearth in labour force, at a time when they are getting fresh orders due to increase in the demands for Indian-produced handicrafts in the Western markets, particularly due to the coming Christmas.

The financial storm in Eurozone has certainly been a double whammy for the Indian handicraft exporters as they have been just beginning to heal the injuries of the global crisis that hurted exporters dearly.

Export of handicrafts continued to grow at the rate of 17%, though many sectors witnessed a drop in exports of Indian products to world markets, said Rashmi Verma, Textiles Secretary.

Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) held a meeting with representatives of industry associations and exporters to discuss implications of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the sector. EPCH has prepared a petition on behalf of handicrafts exporters to be submitted to the GST Council, it said in a statement.

Sectors like carpets and handicrafts, which are still fighting with the slowdown in global demand, may get sops after the commerce ministry completes its sectoral review of exports later this month, an official said.

Exports of handmade items from the country registered about 19 percent growth to over $154.16 million in May, driven by a surge in demand in the US markets.

The government may extend sops for the exporters who hurt badly due to slowdown like handicrafts, carpets, engineering and electronic goods, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma hinted in the capital on Thursday.