Asia'S Biggest Confluence of Home and Lifestyle Items - Home Expo India 2013 Began

Asia’s biggest confluence of home and lifestyle items - Home Expo India 2013 (HEI-2013) has begun at Expo Mart in Greater Noida, near the capital New Delhi.
 
The second edition of the four-day expo, which was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Textiles Panabaka Lakshmi, is a highly specialized product-specific business-to-business (B2B) mega event, featuring an array of items like home textiles, home furnishings, kitchen textiles, etc.
 
Organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), the expo is scheduled to host three consecutive shows - Indian Furnishings, Floorings and Textiles Show (IFFTEX), Indian Furniture and Accessories Show (IFAS) and Indian Houseware and Decorative Show (IHDS), at the same venue.
 
At the inaugural ceremony, Mrs. Zohra Chatterji, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, said HEI provides a common platform for producers, manufacturers and exporters of home furnishing, home furniture and home decorative items to get in direct touch with each other. Most of these people represent cottage, small and medium scale enterprises, she added.
 
Such events provide extended marketing opportunities, and also help in targeting specific foreign buyers and thereby boost exports, she said.
 
Speaking to media on sidelines of the inaugural ceremony, the Minister informed that the Ministry of Textiles has urged the Centre to provide some relief to the carpet, handloom, handicraft, textiles and leather sector in upcoming Foreign Trade Policy to be announced on April 18.
 
She said the suggestions have been forwarded to the Commerce Ministry.
 
Meanwhile, the textile industry has demanded a three percent hike in interest subsidy rate from existing two percent, besides extension of the interest subvention scheme for textile sector for a minimum of five years.