At the time when it has been widely expected that India would miss the total export target of USD 300 billion set by the government for the current fiscal, EPCH, the nodal export promotion body for handicrafts, is optimistic that the country's handicraft sector would achieve the target of USD 2700 million set for the same period.

"For handicrafts exports, the government has set a target of USD 2700 million for the current fiscal and we will likely to achieve the target," Executive Director of Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), Rakesh Kumar told SME Times at a press conference in New Delhi today.

"The handicraft sector is witnessing 25 percent annual growth and has witnessed 18.91 percent growth till to January to USD 1889.61 million," he added.

Handicrafts exports registered an increase of 23.44 percent at Rs. 8992.12 crore in the first 10 months of the current financial year 2011-12 as against Rs. 7284.48 crore during the same period last year and in dollars terms the exports went up by 18.91 percent at USD 1889.61 million in the first 10 months of 2011-12 as against 1589.17 million dollars during the same period in 2010-11.

When asked to justify how they will achieve the target, when only three months are remaining and almost one third of the target is left, he said, "As per last year data we shipped over USD 800 million in last quarter and this year too we will export over USD 850 million in the forth quarter. Which is enough to achieve the target."

Giving credit to the government’s diversification policy and look to east policy, Kumar said, "We are in the position to achieve target is because of the government policies and also the aggressive marketing of the council."

"EPCH took full advantage of the government’s special scheme under MAI programme and initiated an aggressive programme of publicizing and promoting Indian handicrafts in the new markets," he added.