Carpet exports grow by 22% to $3.60 m

India's carpet export rose by 22 per cent to $3.60 million (about 17 crore) in June year-on-year on account of good orders from the US and Europe.

In June 2009, the export was $2.94 million (about Rs 14 crore).

"We are getting good orders from the US and Europe, even from the new markets like in the Middle East and Latin America," Carpet Export Promotion Council Chairman O P Garg said.

For 2010-11 fiscal, the CEPC chairman said that the export would grow by about 25 per cent to $650 million from $525 million in the year-ago period.

Among categories that registered growth were handmade and synthetic carpets, which grew by over 94 per cent, followed by handmade woolen carpets, rugs, druggets and handmade silk carpets.

The US and EU together account for nearly 70 per cent of the country's carpet exports.

Carpet exports started declining since October 2008 but managed to turn positive in November 2009, registering a growth of 18 per cent.

The sector employs 2.5 million people. India's exports grew by a healthy 30.4 per cent in June to $17.75 billion. In June 2009, exports had shrunk by 27.7 per cent to $12.81 billion under the impact of global slowdown.