Market yet to pick up for handicraft sector

Business Standard,

Only 26.1 per cent of SMEs in the handicraft sector felt that the market picked up in 2010, as compared to 2009. Around 56.5 per cent (ie., more than half of these respondents) did not find any change in the scenario and 17.4 per cent found it had worsened in 2010.

These were the findings of a survey conducted by IndiaMART Research Unit, with a view to assessing the recovery of the Indian handicraft industry, and particularly of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within it, in 2010.

IndiaMART is a business-to-business online marketplace, with almost one million registered members.

The survey further found that SMEs were also not so happy about consumer sentiment. Contrary to the general belief, not even a single SME respondent found improvement in consumer sentiment beyond their expectation.

Close to 70 per cent of SMEs reported negative sentiment in 2010 and only 30.4 per cent of SMEs stated that there was average improvement in consumer sentiment.

With respect to the sales comparison with the year 2009, around 39.1 per cent of respondents said they saw an increase in sales of up to 20 per cent, while only 13 per cent said they had experienced an increase of more than 20 per cent in sales. Taking just export demand, only 13 per cent of the respondents said it had improved by over 20 per cent,while 52.2 per cent witnessed a decline in export demand in 2010.