GI tag for hand-knotted Kashmiri carpets elates traders

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Jammu, March 27

The Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the hand-knotted Kashmiri carpets has given a new lease of life to the trade, the J&K government has said. The move has left the traders’ community elated.

“Some people are selling Iranian and machine-made carpets in the name of hand-made Kashmiri ones. Now, buyers can distinguish between hand-made and machine-made carpets,” an official statement by the government reads.

The carpets from Jammu and Kashmir are exported to at least 25 countries. In 2020-21, carpets worth Rs 115 crore were exported to Germany, while those sent to the United States were worth Rs 34 crore, UAE worth Rs 36 crore and Rs 22-crore carpets were sent to the Netherlands.

Sheikh Ashiq, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief, said the GI tagging would increase exports of Kashmiri handicraft too, which has been on a decline for three-four years.

Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary, Government Industries and Commerce, said at an event that the QR code-based mechanism would help check duplicity or fake branding, sabotaging the growth of the carpet industry in the Valley.