New Delhi: The Textiles Ministry on Monday said it will hold talks with its commerce counterpart for sops to the labour-intensive handloom and handicraft industries.
"Handloom and handicraft need more incentives ...we have been consistently emphasising to the Commerce Ministry that we need more to promote these," Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters after inaugurating a handloom expo here.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma had recently said sops for labour-intensive sectors like handloom, handicraft and leathers sectors were on anvil.
Maran said his ministry would take appropriate steps to prop up the handloom and handicraft sectors and also hold talks with Commerce Ministry for promoting their exports.
"We will be talking closely with the Commerce Ministry...we have been asking a lot of things," Maran said.
On the prospects of textiles exports that turned positive in November after contracting for more than a year, Maran said: “We still have to be cautious as exports are dependent on external factors."
Textiles exports posted a growth of about 5 percent in November over the same month last year. He said the exports picked up due to demand revival in the European markets.
"Recession in Europe has come down...European markets are doing much better than the US market," he added.
The ministry today launched a week-long handloom expo that will have fashion shows and buyer-seller meets at various locations in the country to promote handloom products.
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 21, 2009, 14:54