Hyderabad: Good days seem to be in store for long neglected local handicrafts in Telangana. Online market places like Amazon and Flipkart would be vying to promote the products of artisans to tap a large demand for ethnic and handcrafted items. “Telangana has several local products such famous Pochampalli textiles, intricate Bidri ware, Nirmal handicrafts, Kalamkari paintings, etc. We are planning to bring together these craftsmen under different federations and put their products on Amazon online market place — not just on its India portal, but also on its global market places,” Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao told this correspondent after inaugurating the company’s largest warehouse in India on Wednesday.
According to an official from Amazon India, the online market place has recently launched a sell global initiative, where these products will feature not just on the Amazon India market place but also on those of Amazon UK and Amazon USA, etc. Apart from famous products like Pochampalli textiles, Bidri ware, Telangana is also known for Banjara Needle Crafts, Dokra Metal Crafts, Bronze castings, pearls and jewellery.
The sale of local products through federations would be huge boost to margins of the artisans as they could get customers from across the world. According to some estimates, total worth of the Indian handicraft industry across the globe is $100 billion, with a marketshare of 1 to 2 per cent. The demand for Indian handicrafts mostly comes from the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy etc.
Not to be left behind, Amazon’s Indian rival Flikart is wooing artisans from Telangana (and also Andhra Pradesh) with open arms.
“There is a great scope to source a variety of handicrafts from Telangana. These are unique products, which can be promoted through our market place,” said Manish Maheshwari, head and vice-president, seller ecosystem at Flipkart. Since most of products are made by artisans, who might not have sound financials or good computer knowledge, Mr Maheshwari said that Flipkart would be creating support systems which can help artisans — on monthly fee basis or per order basis — to bring their products online. “Flipkart would partner with locals who are willing to work as full service agents to support artisans in terms of cataloguing, packaging, couriering, etc,” he said.
