SME Times News Bureau | 15 Dec, 2011
Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) will honour 103 handicraft companies with trophies, awards and merit certificates from all parts of the country for their outstanding performance during 2009-10 and 2010-11 at the 18th Export Award Function to be held in New Delhi on December 20.

Anand Sharma, Union Commerce & Industry and Textiles Minister, will distribute the awards at a colourful ceremony in which Minister of State for Textiles Panabaaka Lakshmi, Rita Menon, Secretary, Textiles, and S. S. Gupta, Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) along with leading luminaries of the handicrafts business, prominent personalities and representatives of diplomatic core will also grace the occasion.

Five types of awards are given to the exporters under 22 qualified product categories in addition to merit certificates, regional export awards, Life Time Achievement award and women entrepreneur award, which are decided by a committee headed by Additional Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles.

The export awards were instituted by EPCH in the year 1989 with the objective to create a sense of healthy competition within the exporting community to achieve more and more so that ultimately exports of handicrafts continue to grow year after year.  The export awards over the years have shown very satisfactory results and, in fact, has been one of the major factors for the sustained and impressive growth of exports of handicrafts, informed Rakesh Kumar, Executive Director, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH).

The export awards have become symbol of recognition amongst the exporters and has also become an important land mark of achievement for the importing community as by and large importing community prefers to source their requirement from an award winner.  Export awards have also helped winning companies to do better and better in future and also inspire others to achieve similar recognition in future so that they also obtain a distinct identity, he added.