Srinagar, Oct 16 : Jammu and Kashmir government today announced the operational guidelines to avail the export subsidy which will boost the export of handicraft and handloom goods from the valley.
In a decision which is likely to arrest the decline of the exports of handicraft and handloom goods from Jammu and Kashmir (UT), the Government on Saturday announced the operational guidelines to avail the export subsidy after it was granted by the administrative council recently, an official spokesman said.

He said the main objective of the export subsidy is to provide promotional measures to boost the handicrafts and handloom exports from the UT.
Under the scheme, an incentive of 10 percent of the total volume of handicraft and handloom products exported to any country with maximum reimbursement of Rs 5 crore (whichever is lesser) will be provided to the eligible exporters who are registered with the Handicrafts and Handloom Department.

The export subsidy will be applicable for Government of India (GI) products that will be certified by the quality control wing and testing lab of the Handicrafts Department and will not be entitled on machine made stuff, the spokesman added.

Terming the development as positive, Director Handicrafts and Handloom Kashmir Mahmood Ahmad Shah asserted that this step will help in restoring the quantum of exports of the handicraft items that we used to export from this place and was a long pending demand from the Kashmir based exporters.

He said the subsidy shall be availed on the handicraft exports whose origin is from Jammu and Kashmir. In case the origin of exports is from outside Jammu and Kashmir, it shall have to be accompanied by e-way bill.

All this comes under the recently announced major developments where under various schemes such as Kharandar scheme, financial assistance to the Handicrafts and Handloom Cooperative societies and enhancing the limit under the Artisan Credit Card scheme were announced by the government.
It is believed that all these steps will strengthen the handicraft and handloom eco system of the UT and will give a boost to the ground level artisan.(UNI)