EPCH Arrangements for BAs :-

There were few buying agents (few from BAA) and some came from direct invitation of EPCH, EPCH staff received each one of us at reception and their arrangements for hotel and transportation was wonderful. Special thanks to Mr. Prahladka and his team (Mr. Siddharth & Varun ) for coordinating with us for hotel and transportation. BAs were provided transportation for event as well as to visit their vendors.

Inauguration :-

This event was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Bengal, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, with presence of Minister of state, Dr. Amit Mitra & Chief secretary of state Mr. Alapan Bandhopadhyay, Mr. O.P. Prahladka (Chairman EPCH) Mr. Rakesh Kumar (IEML) . During the inauguration event, many people from different organization got small time to speak directly to CM Mamata Banerjee to convey their problems and point of view. Mr. Rohit Guha from BAA had conveyed his view, on problem faced while working with small scale industries from West Bengal.

Handicraft of West Bengal :-

The exhibition has participants from different part of West Bengal. The handicraft of Bengal is far better than many other states of India. They had exceptional designs in metal jewellery, jute & leather bags, terracotta products and mahogany furniture & garments with some great detailing & quality.

Exhibitor :-

Unfortunately, None of the exhibitor (whom I interact) had any experience of exports. I personally feel, such a great craft is untouched by overseas market. Many exhibitor don’t even know what is FOB and IEC.

B2B Meeting with Chief Secretary, Mr. Alapan Bandhopadhyay :-

We had an hour long discussion, where people discussed many issues. I spoke on behalf of BAA and gave small introduction of BAA to everyone who were present in the meeting. Since, everyone spoken on different problems; I tried to be more positive and advised to use our services to educate these small scale companies to deal with international buyers. We can provide training for merchandising, communication, testing methods, design acceptability, packaging/labeling & marking. We have a lot of senior BAs and their trained staff who can give a helping hand to these small scale companies. Mr. Prahladka ji was given responsibility by Chief Secretary to coordinate with BAA and submit a plan for seminars and educational classes for exhibitors. I also suggested, it would be better if they can select few companies from different product categories for seminars rather then bring crowd.

Some of chosen categories are :-

Gift / Furniture / Natural Fiber / Wall Décor / Wooden items / Textile / Cane & Bamboo / Terracotta & Jute.

Conclusion :-

here is a great potential in West Bengal’s handicrafts, however problem remain same what we had faced in Kashmir. The exhibitors have no idea about exports formalities and dealing with international buyers. However, all these exhibitors are educated and can easily learn international marketing and merchandising, communication process. I would suggest, BAA to give responsibility to relevant working group to work closely with Mr. Prahladka and make a plan to follow. I am sure there are many BAs who can personally come or send their managers for seminars.

Buying Agents for BAA :-

I also met 4 agents and explained them the benefits to join BAA. They have some question and some misinformation about fee structure. I had already given their details to Mr. Vishaal Naraiin Sinha (Membership working group head) to follow up with these BAs. Here are names of BAs –

India Sourcing – Ms. Deepti Tiwari

ndian Touch – Ms. Sunita Singh (employee)

Mystika Buying House – Mr. Deepak Grover

Tania International – Mr. J.S. Lamba