Furniture & Accessories Show opens in Jodhpur

Foreign buyers at Indian Furniture & Accessories Show in Jodhpur on March 13, 2010.

More than 250 companies from across the country are participating in the first-of-its-kind Indian Furniture & Accessories Show (IFAS) which opened here today.

The three-day event was inaugurated by Ms Chandresh Kumari, Member of Parliament.

Mr Thomas Matussek, Ambassador of Germany, and Mr Humaid al Manni, Ambassador of Oman, released the directory of the fair on the occasion.

More than 300 foreign buyers from all over the world are attending the exhibition, which has been organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) and the Jodhpur Handicrafts Exporters Association (JHEA) to promote hand-crafted products from India.

EPCH Chairman Raj Kumar Malhotra and Executive Director Rakesh Kumar and JHEA President Nirmal Bhandari and Secretary Bharat Dinesh were amongst those present on the occasion.

Jodhpur alone provides employment to more than 300,000 craftpersons and the total volume of exports from this region is estimated to be around $ 150 million per annum.

The EPCH has conceptualised the fair to provide an impetus to the growth of the furniture and accessories segment and had decided to organise a Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) in Jodhpur specially focusing on the woodcraft of the country.

The show is expected to provide an opportunity to exhibitors to display their products and also give them a chance to take buyers directly to their showrooms and workplaces.

The overseas buyers at the event have been drawn from countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Holland, Hungary, Brazil, Colombia, Russia, Panama, New Zealand, South Africa, Ecuador, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Uruguay, Botswana, Australia, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Hong Kong, France, Ukraine, Canada, Argentina, Netherlands, Norway, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovenia, Mexico, Bolivia, Greece, Japan, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Turkey, Malaysia, Lebanon and Taiwan are attending the show to source their requirements.

A wide range of furniture made of wood, recycled wood, iron and wrought iron as well as a range of other houseware items are on display at the show as more than 300 units are producing furniture and accessories and other hand-crafted products in the Jodhpur region.

The event is also aimed at promoting Jodhpur amongst the oveseas buying community and create an image for the region on the lines of the "High Point" show in the US. For buyers, the B2B show provides an opportunity to visit manufacturing sites and see the systems, methods and techniques employed in making the products.

According to provisional data available for the period April-February 2009-10, exports of handicrafts from India increased to Rs 6335.84 crore from Rs 6106.83 crore in the same period of the previous financial year. In dollar terms, exports registered a decline of $ 26.51 million (1.96 per cent) in the same period.

EPCH, with a membership of over 7000 exporters from all over the country, is the apex body that coordinates and promotes handicrafts exports from India. Sponsored by the Ministry of Textiles, the Council also organizes trade-shows, buyer-seller meets, conferences and study tours to keep Indian exporters abreast of the latest trends in the markets worldwide.

NNN