The Hindu Business Line : Jodhpur second largest exporter of handicrafts

Jodhpur has emerged as the country's second largest exporter of handicrafts with 400 units employing around a lakh of people and exporting handicrafts close to Rs 700 crore, the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said.

An official release issued here said Mr Ramesh visiting the city in Rajasthan for a day went around the Common Facility Centre set up by the Export Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) with assistance from the Department of Commerce. While underscoring the importance of the Common Facility Centre to provide design assistance to small and medium entrepreneurs, Mr Ramesh assured all support to the EPCH to further develop wooden, wrought iron and sea-shell handicrafts from Jodhpur.

Guar gum issue

Mr Ramesh also interacted with the guar gum manufacturing industry to identify steps to boost exports of guar gum.

He said out of 80 per cent of world's total production of guar, Rajasthan accounts for 70 per cent of its cultivation. Mr Ramesh said in 2005-06 India exported Rs 1,000 crore of guar gum, half of which was to the US alone.

Doubling exports

The Ministry is now working towards doubling these exports in the next five years, mainly through the involvement of women's self-help groups in guar cultivation to enhance incomes for farmers. About nine lakh families in Rajasthan and other States such as Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab depend on guar cultivation.

Assurance given

Mr Ramesh assured the Indian Guar Gum Manufacturers Association plea for banning guar seed and guar gum from forward trading would be suitably addressed as he had already taken up the matter with the Forward Markets Commission. He said the idea of forward trading was to benefit farmers and not traders and speculators.

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Jodhpur second largest exporter of handicrafts