China doing copy cat in handicraft: Exporters

The lamps you light on Diwali or the 'rakhi' you tie on your brother's wrist may not have been made by domestic craftsmen. Chances are you may be tying your brother a China-made rakhi and lighting Chinese lamps.

Those in the handicraft business say China has 'invaded' the Indian bazaars replacing sale of traditional hand-made products with machine-made items manufactured on a big volume.

"They (China) copy our designs and export back (handicraft products) to us," Exports Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) chairman R K Malhotra said.

Almost all the major handicrafts items in metal, woodware, jute and toys are being imported. According to EPCH data, during 2007-08 import of handicrafts items from China stood at Rs 1,040.03 crore (Rs 10.4 billion) against 792.98 crore (Rs 7.92 billion) in 2006-07.

Besides, the Chinese manufacturers send these machine-made handicrafts to the global market giving tough competition to Indian suppliers.

"Ninety per cent of their products are machine-made. . . so the items are low priced . . . this is affecting our exports," Malhotra said.

The EPCH has sought a ban on import of these items stating the Chinese are ruining the Indian heritage of handicraft.

The almost year-long global recession has also rendered close to 50 per cent people jobless in the sector's one-million worforce, EPCH said.

The Chinese import 'invasion' has not only affected the domestic business and exporters, but also artisans. In any case, they were impacted by recession in the US and Europe, the major markets for the Indian handicrafts.

In 2008-09, handicrafts exports almost halved to $1.79 billion compared to that in the previous year.