A Gateway To Handloom Exporters
Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) is a nodal agency constituted under "The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India" to promote the exports of all handloom products like fabrics, home furnishings, carpets, floor coverings, etc. HEPC was constituted in the year 1965 with 96 members and its present membership is around 1500 spread all over the country. The Handloom industry mainly exports fabrics, bed linen, table linen, toilet and kitchen linen, towels, curtains, cushions and pads, tapestries and upholstery's, carpets and floor coverings, etc. The basic objective of HEPC is to provide all support and guidance to the Indian Handloom exporters and International buyers for trade promotion and International marketing. HEPC has its head office at Chennai and regional office at New Delhi.
Administration
HEPC is incorporated as a not for profit company under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 and governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association framed by the Council. It is administered by an Executive Committee consisting of elected representatives from the export trade, ex-officio members. The Committee is headed by Chairman. The Chairman and Vice Chairman hold office for a period of two years. The secretary (Executive Director) of the Council, appointed by the Executive Committee assists the Council to run the administration.
Objectives
A. To support, protect, maintain, increase and promote the export of Indian Handloom fabrics by:-
1. Undertaking market study in individual foreign countries
2. Sending out trade missions to foreign countries
3. Conducting propaganda in foreign countries, the advantages of trade and commerce with India in Handloom fabrics
4. Propagating information useful to manufacturers and traders in Indian handloom fabrics through lectures, discussions, books, correspondence etc.
5. Provide input to the Government, local authorities and public bodies on matters related to policies
6. Deputing officers to witness the survey of Indian handloom fabrics exported
7. Inquire and investigate into complaints received from foreign buyers or Indian exporters and act as arbitrators if asked for it
8. Facilitate upgrading, popularisation and adoption of technology, quality and design improvement, standards and specifications, product development, diversification and innovations, etc
9. Provide guidance, consultancy and support to handloom exporters
10. Organise participation in trade fairs, exhibitions and buyer-seller meets in India and abroad
B. To enunciate equitable principles, setup code/s of practices to govern the export trade in Indian Handloom fabrics and further to simplify transactions relating to export
C. To keep in constant communication with various bodies throughout the world with a view to take necessary measure for maintaining or increasing the export
D. To advise or represent Government , local authorities and Public bodies on the policies adopted by them in relation to their effect on industry or commerce and other measures including direct and indirect taxation
Strategies
A. Arrange for participation of member exporters in important trade fairs, organising buyer-seller meet (BSM), business missions.
B. Provide financial grants to exporters with Market Development Assistance and Market Access Initiative for undertaking sale-cum- study tours, participation in international fairs, publicity etc.
C. Popularise Indian Handloom products abroad through website publicity, advertisements in commercial portals, trade magazines, conducting exclusive hand woven shows, and through Council's publications.
D. Dissemination of trade information like market studies, colour trends, design trends, export trends, standards and specifications, Government policies, circulars etc. through publications and news letters.
E. Conducting workshops, seminars on upgrading technology in pre-loom, loom, post loom practices to improve quality and productivity, popularising modern dyeing practices, product innovations, diversifications and improvement, quality compliance, better merchandising practices, packaging methods,etc to improve competitiveness of Indian Handloom products.
F. Promote product innovation, diversification and improvement in selected handloom clusters under National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP) for promoting production of exportable products.
G. Providing design support to develop new designs, fabric simulation colour printouts, peg plan graph outputs, layout information, computer aided colour matching etc. to the exporters.
H. Generation and dissemination of trade enquiries for facilitating International buyers to source handloom products from Indian Handloom exporters.
I. Liaison with Government for strengthening infrastructure facilities in handloom export production centres, take efforts to improve forward and backward linkages in handloom sector.
J. Serve as a link between trade and Government to formulate appropriate policies to promote handloom export growth.
K. Inquire into complaints made against exporters and take up member exporter's problems related to buyers with respective embassies.
