Luxury industry should help Indian artisans access global markets, says Sitharaman

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Apr 7, 2017

Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the luxury industry to recognise the work of Indian artisans and help them in accessing global markets, a news agency reported.

Sitharaman, while addressing industry leaders at the Luxury Symposium 2017 in New Delhi, expressed pain that “wonderful” artisans are standing in queues for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme to get minimum wages.

“Luxury industry will have to identify artisans from various pockets in India and give them their due recognition,” she said. “It is possible for the luxury industry to promote products of artisans...They need recognition and this industry today is well poised to bridge the gap between artisans and market,” she added.

Sitharaman appealed to the industry players to come forward and engage with the artisans.

She said the industry is rapidly growing in India and as per a study, the market size of the sector would touch $100 billion in eight years from the current $7-8 billion.
 
“We need to put in lot of attention for this sector and facilitate and ensure that it really fits into Make in India,” she added. Citing another report of 2014, the minister said globally the industry size is $2 trillion, of which 30% comes from BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
 
India is the only country among these five that is growing at over 7.2%, she said, adding that the growth rate will be sustained at 7% and above. “The possibility of the luxury industry to survive and grow sufficiently in India is there because of its aspirational class,” she said.
 
The minister also said that the number of high net worth individuals is growing in India and the country will account for about 6% of all billionaires in the next five years.