The 46th edition of one of Asia’s largest gifts and handicrafts fair— IHGF Delhi Fair (Autumn), organised by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) held at the India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida from October 14 to 18, witnessed 4,900 buyers and buyer representatives over the three days.
The fair was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Textiles Ajay Tamta, amidst the buying community from more than 110 countries which attended the fair to source home, lifestyle, fashion and textiles products. While inaugurating the fair, Tamta said that this fair has played a vital role in increasing exports of handicrafts from the country and has acquired a special importance for handicrafts sector as overseas buying community finds this fair to be the most effective sourcing medium for their requirements and that the Indian exporting community considers this as the most effective marketing medium for their merchandise. “Participation by over 3,200 exhibitors in this fair and visit of overseas buyers from over 110 countries shows its popularity amongst Indian handicrafts exporting and importing community,” he added.
The fashion shows organised by EPCH during each edition of the IHGF-Delhi fair have always been a hit to showcase the products of the exhibitors duly worn by the models, thus attracting many visitors to the fair.
This year the fashion show displayed the products of fashion jewellery and accessories of North Eastern region companies of India such as Orchid Petal, Nagaland, Silk Culture, Jorhat, HDN Crafts, Assam, Kraftin, Assam, Women Empowerment and Rural Development Handicrafts, Manipur, Mizoram Mahila Sangathan, Kenway Sartaj Worldwide, Moradabad, Veva Fashion, Jaipur and so on.
The other days were filled with knowledge sessions and seminars on topics such as ‘Enabling B2B Exports through Online Channel’ and ‘Design Sustainability and Transparency—Key factors in European markets’.
During the session, Anshuman Harjai, the manager for sales and business development at Amazon Global Selling, highlighted how through online retailing of all segments of products being produced by the member exporters of the EPCH, can increase their reach to consumers world wide. Susanna Bjorklund, the trend analyst, future thinker and a journalist from Finland, through a detailed presentation, apprised the participants about the benefits of adopting latest designs and trends, which can help the exporters to foresee the future requirement of their products.
