India's carpet industry which employs 2 million people and exports $1.8 billion every year has stagnated in the last five years

• India’s hand-crafted carpets and floor coverings are popular with overseas and domestic buyers — but has stagnated in the last five years.
  
• India added an average of ₹115.4 billion in exports to handmade carpet and flooring exports since 2014.
  
• The handmade carpet industry employs over 2 million workers and artisans, majorly women from rural India.
  
• The Indian government has launched the 38th India Carpet Expo — which will see as many as 400 overseas buyers from 50 countries.

Indian hand-crafted carpets and floor coverings which are popular globally, has stagnated in the last five years.

India exports almost 90% of its total carpets made — bringing in about $1.8 billion in foreign exchange every year. However, the exports flatlined in the last five years.


There is a slowdown in consumption even across developed countries and handmade carpets that India exports is considered a discretionary item for most buyers in any country. Broadly, India exports handmade carpets to over 70 countries including China, USA, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.

“India has 35% share in the global carpet export. We are working towards increasing it to 50% in the near future” CEPC executive director Sanjay Kumar told Hindustan Times on Oct 10.

The carpets are an important segment of the economy as the industry employs over 2 million workers and artisans, majorly women from rural India.

Therefore, the Indian government wants to double the carpet exports in the next five years but there is little detail as to how it plans to achieve this goal. “We are quite hopeful that India will be exporting carpets worth ₹25,000 crore annually in the next five years,” Kumar added.

To ‘discourage imports’ and push demand of handmade carpets, the Indian government has launched the 38th India Carpet Expo — which will see as many as 400 overseas buyers from 50 countries. The mega expo, which will be held between October 11 and 15 is organised by the Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC) of India.

According to the government press release, nearly 200 members across India will participate in the expo. States of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, North East Region of India, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are the primary manufacturing centres for carpets and other floor coverings.

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