Himalayan Times (1961)

February 5, 1961 Himalayan Times

HANDLOOM EXPORT ORGANISATION

From time immemorial,
Indian handloom oloth has
been in demand in foreign
countries. The principal
countries, which have been
importing handloom cloth
during the last several
decades, are Ceylon, South.
Bast Asia, West Africa
and West Asia. During
the last 3 or 4 years,
there has been an increas-
ing interest in Indian
handlr/om cloth in Europe,
United States and Canada,
vl.o meet this new demand
from those countries, seve-
ral expertB ha - e been in-
vited from abroad and their
advice sought. Through
pirtieipatibn in World
Fairs and Exhibitions, in-
formation has been obtain-
ed on the nature of the
demand for the Indian
hand loom fabrics in these
countries. 1 he Govern-
ment of India is explor-
ing the-new export mar
Bets. Several handloom
oloth manufacturers and
exporters in India have
been exporting their pro-
ducts to these countries
during the last few years.
But they have been facing
various handicaps such as,
npn availability of required
raw materials, lack of
business contacts abroad,
want of finance for pub-
licity eto.

On the recommenda-

tions made by several .
expert teams and trade
missions, which visited
India during the last few
years to explore the pos-
sibilities of improving and
promoting the export of
handloom oloth to foreign
countries, the Government
of Iudia considered the
need for a Central Organi- '
salion to deal with the
exports of band loom fabrics
and set up tbe'H.E.O"
in January , 1959 as a
Department of thu State
Trading Corporation s of
India. ' _'. , ■; • ■
the H E. O. should
noi .be misunderstood to
be an organisation, which
is designed to replace the
existing exporters. The
H.E 0. is there only to
supplement the existing
exporters! A few leading
manufacturers and ex-
porters, who are already
iu the trade, are finding
difficulty iu regard to raw
materials, some of which
had to be imported from
abroad. They do not have
the neoessarry finance for
the organisation for con-
tacting prospective buyers
ubioad they also have not
got the means to afford
any large-scale publicity.
There are many other
handicaps like this from
which they suffer. The
object of the H E. O. is

Five

to help the exporters in
Uokling the several' handi-
caps; which they are now
facing and help them to
improve . their exports.
Several leading manufac-
tures and - exporters from
the important weaving
Centres in India have been
selected to' work as Busi
ness Associates of the
H.E.O. R6 far 30 Busi.
nes Associates have, been
enlisted and some more
are to be 'enlisted. The
samples .produced by the
Business .Associates' will
be exhibited in the foreign ;
countries and the Qffioers
of H.S.O. would oontaot
. the prospective buyers and
-book orders on their be-
half.

• Apart from displaying
the, samples made avilable
by the Business Associates,
the" H.E O, also manufac-
tures its own samples by
utilising the Bervioes of
the Weaves' Service
Centres set up by the
All Iudia Handloom Board.

The H.E O. is granted
licences for the import of
dyes and chemical, etc
and the material is supplied
to the Business Associates
against export orders.. The
H.E.O. arranges service
facilities, auoh as supply
of designs suitable for
export market, provides
dyeing and finishing faci-
lities, wherever possible
and render teobnieal help
to the manufacturers, who
work as Business Aaao-
( Continued on page 7 )