feature
India: A global market
TEXT AND PHOTOS: RICHARD EMBLIN
The City Paper travels to Delhi to see how India’s manufacturing and handicrafts industry is driving much of this country’s economic prosperity.
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elhi - To do business in India you need to understand the importance of zero. This is why during last month’s 31st Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF)held at a sprawling exhibition centre near Delhi - there were as many calculators as there were buyers. And this is 6
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saying a lot. On three floors and for four days the world came and looked at India carefully: examining every inch of the hundreds of thousands of items on display. The inquisitive audience are international wholesale buyers of everything made in India - from home furnishings to decorative items and of course, those beautifully hand-painted Kashmir bells which in a matter of months, will be hanging for sale in department stores and boutiques around the world. If Christmas is kind on Kashmir, Indian crafts are anything but seasonal. The global demand for Indian handicrafts is a 24-7 enterprise. And like so much in this Asian country exports are booming. According to figures released by the Government, India’s exports have risen 32.4% yearon-year to US$ 20.6 billion just in January this year – much of it from demand in the U.S and Latin America - and in line with projections that
overall shipments this year will reach US$ 225 billion. At the 2011 IHGF, 2300 exhibitors from the 28 states of India hosted the world. Buyers from big retailers such Liberty, Pier 1 Imports and Crate & Barrel, shuffled their way down the halls and aisles, often sealing deals with their Indian colleagues over cups of chai. European, African and Cen-
tral Asian buyers also placed orders on everything from 1000 lampstands to 10,000 pashmina shawls. Unlike other craft fairs, (especially those in South America), the IHGF was not a retail event. It was a buyers market, and a big one at that. A strong rupee and the influx of foreign investment are transforming the Indian economy on such a scale, that it is evident both inside
and outside, the India Expo Centre. As we travel to Greater Noida, construction cranes tower over newly-built suburbs, recently finished three lane highways and smart shopping malls transplanted straight from South Florida. Foreign carmakers Volkswagen and Nissan showcase their latest models just blocks away from a new generation of manufacturing millionaires proudly exhibiting top craftsmanship and creativity, to the world. Yogesh Khanna doesn’t consider himself “a rich man” despite the fact that last year, his family-run business posted a net profit of US$ 8 million by exporting beautifully-crafted paper boxes around the world. “I am a ‘wealthy man’ because I can give employment to 800 workers,” says this entrepreneur. “Wealth is a relative thing. If you have family and can give opportunities to those less fortunate, then you can consider yourself rich,” he says, as I fumble through silk embroidered notebooks and diaries. Khanna’s philosophy on wealth seems to echo with India’s export leaders. In a country with a 9 percent annual growth rate, a strong rupee, and a global market increasingly weary of China’s mass-manufacturing, the focus is now on sharing some of the prosperity. “We don’t try to make every artisan an exporter,” says Rakesh Kumar, Executive Director of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts. “Our goal is that there is job security and social welfare for the most
vulnerable.” Being socially responsible in a country of 1.1 billion is a monumental task and the Government of India knows this. Therefore it carefully monitors its exports, the welfare of its artisans and “cottage industries” – clusters made up of millions of local artisans who work together and compete for a share of the domestic and international market. “They are artisans who work with the raw materials available in their towns and villages. They make up the rich cultural heritage that is India,” says Kumar. India’s economic miracle wasn’t made over night. During the last three decades the country has experienced steady growth and the debt crisis of the 1980s for a young generation of entrepreneurs, is as anachronic as the temples which loom over the tracks of Delhi’s modern metro. And exports have played a key role in the modernization process of this ancient culture, which has seen more than 200 million people rise out of poverty in the last decade with the trend continuing. “Everyone is a business person,” says Nikita Bhandari, who along with her mother and father run ‘Aashapura’- a textile company based in Jaipur. As exhibitors at the IHGF, the Bhandari claim their success (and that of their country) on the fact that Indians value home industry. Unlike China, 90 percent of all Indian handicrafts are handmade. “We have to believe in ourselves,” she says, surround-
ed by walls of folded block-printed cotton tablecloths which take months to elaborate. “Why should we buy elsewhere, when we have the finest cotton?” Like many family-run businesses across India, the Bhandaris every year make the trip to this trade fair to open up new markets and show their beautiful designs to potential buyers. In a country of fast changes in technology and communications, incorporating new designs is instrumental in competing with the family-run business “next door.” A unique combination where traditional patterns meet modern interpretations is what makes the Indian “look” so appealing. “We are selling art,” says Raj Kumar Malhotra, a member of the Board of Trade of India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, of the growing access informal artisans now have to computers. Design software such as AutoCad and a culture steeped in colour and patterns has opened up a universe of creativity for textile manufacturers. Malhorta also believes that regional diversity has been good for Indian design. “With 18 official languages and 300 dialects, this country is still one. We each pray to a different God, but they are all working.” If the Gods are hard at work it is because of a “no one left behind” consciousness. Prosperity in this country has set in motion an optimism that is reflected across a vast territory, on all levels of society - from the small familyrun mills in Agra to the manufacturing
hubs of Mumbai. Movement, which once was relegated to the millions riding India’s trains is now a mindset. India’s great resource is its people. Hard working, always hospitable and proud of their culture, they forge ahead, for this is a country that has managed to successfully connect the craftsman to the cyber world, the village merchant with the global market. As another Indian Handicrafts Fair looms on the horizon, there will be more innovation and investment. As ‘zero’ was invented in this country centuries ago, expect the numbers to grow. But three words ultimately make the difference of what’s in demand - because ‘Made in India’ means so much to so many. This article was made possible thanks to an invitation by the Government of India and the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts.
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