A delegation of handicraft exporters led by Syed Zafar Islam, Member of Parliament met Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister and raised various issues like restoration of duty-free import of essential embellishment, trimmings and tools for handicrafts sector (DFIC), removal of alert on IEC (risky exporters) and specifically Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) rates for handicrafts sector and requested for a relook at the RoDTEP rates announced recently.
Rajkumar Malhotra, Chairman, EPCH; Dr. Rakesh Kumar, DG, EPCH and Avdesh Agarwal, General Secretary, Moradabad Handicrafts Exporters Association were part of this delegation.
The Minister gave a patient hearing to the matter, following which delegation now hopes for a positive outcome of the meeting.
Rajkumar Malhotra informed that since the recently announced RoDTEP rates for various handicrafts’ product categories, which averaged around 0.7 per cent, there has been widespread demand for reconsideration of rates for handicrafts sector.
“We hope today’s meeting will help us resolving our issues and the sector can continue with the momentum of growth,” he said.
The provision of duty-free import has helped handicrafts exporters to import items for embellishing their products like lighting and lamps, fashion jewellery, wooden handicrafts and others to enhance the quality and look as per the tastes and preferences in vogue in the international market.
Notably, new and novelty items have been produced by the handicrafts exporters of Moradabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Saharanpur and other craft clusters on a regular basis and exported to various countries across the globe.
Dr. Kumar also extended the invitation to the Finance Minister for the forthcoming 52nd IHGF Delhi Fair-Autumn, 2021 scheduled to be held from 28 to 31 October 2021 at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.
