The 45th edition of IHGF-Delhi Fair has kicked off on Friday at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.

Textiles Secretary Anant Kumar Singh inaugurated the five-day expo.

Speaking on the occasion, Kumar said handicrafts sector plays a significant role in the country’s economy and provides employment to a vast segment of craft-persons in rural and semi-urban areas and generates substantial foreign exchange for the country while preserving its cultural heritage.

He added that handicrafts have great potential as they hold the key for sustaining not only the existing set of millions of artisans spread over length and breadth of the country but also for the increasingly large number of new entrants in the craft activity. 

The 70 lakh artisans from various craft clusters who are engaged in production of handicrafts are the backbone of the handicrafts sector.

Singh also shared his experience during his visit to the recently held Ambiente-2018 in Frankfurt and said that products displayed by more than 400 handicrafts exporters were no less than the best in the world and further said that Messe Frankfurt has declared India as a partner country for Ambiente -2019.

The Textiles Secretary, further elaborated that Ministry of Textiles has implemented various projects in providing assistance to the craft persons and exporters.

The growth in exports ultimately results in generation of employment in this decentralized sector of economy and improving living standards of poor craft-persons engaged in production of handicrafts, he added.

Singh also appreciated the efforts of the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts for creating such a marketing platform in the form of IHGF-Delhi fair for the handicrafts sector.