Market Opportunities In Indian Handicraft Industry

The word handicraft quite literally means an activity involving the making of decorative domestic or other objects by hand and is a unique tangible expression that represents a culture, tradition and the heritage of a country or a place. One unique feature of the handicrafts that make it more important is that more often, the same item of the handicraft produced in different regions or same region by different artisans are different from each other in terms of artisanship, style, color combination and finish by artisan's creativity influenced by the local heritage and popular concepts. The history of handicraft is almost 5000 years old. Handicrafts were in existence from Stone Age where a man used to make tools by carving stones and has been evident in the developing civilizations in the ancient world. India is one of the important suppliers of handicrafts to the world market. The Indian handicrafts industry is highly labour intensive cottage based industry and decentralized, being spread all over the country in rural and urban areas. Numerous artisans are engaged in crafts work on part-time basis. The industry provides employment to over six million artisans (including those in carpet trade), which include a large number of women and people belonging to the weaker sections of the society. However, an attempt is made in this research article through available literature & studies to study the market opportunities in Indian handicraft industry.