New Delhi, 8 Feb: Handicrafts and Handloom Department Kashmir has embarked on a major and innovative approach in branding and marketing of Kashmir handicrafts starting this year.
In this direction, a delegation of officers from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir headed by Mahmood Ahmad Shah, Director, Handicrafts & Handloom, Kashmir, attended a series of meetings with the Senior officers of India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) on 08th Feb, 2021. Vikas Gupta, Director Handicrafts & Handloom, Jammu and Aamir A. Rather, General Manager, JKTPO were also the part of delegation.
The products of J&K were discussed during the meeting with Ms. Parul Singh, Associate Director (IBEF) and it was emphasized that standard parameters need to be set that will distinguish GI Tagged and other items; and better branding on J&K products is required to gain customer’s trust.
It was also suggested that short-duration films on the awareness of GI Tagging should be created and circulated on the social media platforms.
Ms. Parul Singh, Associate Director (IBEF) informed that IBEF will help improve the designing and branding of J&K products and will also create a direct link between artisans and customers. Tie-up with five-star hotels, showrooms in different cities across the country for displaying and marketing J&K products was also discussed. Ms. Parul Singh also agreed to provide value addition to the existing products and Film Tourism promotion in J&K.
Identification of suitable locations in various cities across the country to organise approximately 15-20 exhibitions in the month of March, 2021 to showcase J&K products was discussed in the meeting with Mr. Kapil Gupta, Joint Director General (TPCI) and Mr. Sandip Das, Deputy Director General (TPCI). Around 25-30 artisans will participate in each exhibition. Further, it was also delebrated to showcase J&K products in malls and other preferable locations with heavy footfall. The officers of TPCI assured to provide all necessary infrastructure, logistics and publicity support for these exhibitions.
In the meeting with senior officers, Prashant Seth, Director, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and Shri Chandranath Som, DDG, FIEO, discussed the global visibility to local industries, self help groups and GI Tagged items. FIEO is in process of creating a JKTPO-FIEO co-branded E-commerce portal for GI Tagged items of J&K having the capability of retail sale. Further, capacity-building cum training programs, handholding programs to guide MSMEs and artisans were also discussed. FIEO is in process of preparing a concept note for Export strategy for J&K and the same will be submitted shortly. In addition to this, promoting products on social media, issues of exporters, HS Codes for Handicrafts & Handloom products and setting up of standard parameters to differentiate handmade, machine made and semi-machine made articles were also discussed.