To the carpet manufacturers of Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi, the four-and-a-half-year-old Carpet Expo Mart that failed to take off stands as a bitter testimony to government apathy at a time the sector has been walloped by steep US tariffs.
The mart, which could have offered a platform for local carpet weavers and manufacturers to meet foreign clients, now lies deserted. Rugs worth over ₹6,000 crore are stuck at various stages of production or supply as weavers look for ways to cushion the 50 per cent tariff blow dealt by US President Donald Trump.
“The mart is a proof that the government is more interested in providing cosmetic support to the sector than honestly giving it a boost. It could have changed the fate of the region if it had been operational for a few years and manufacturers had the opportunity to meet foreign importers here,” said a carpet manufacturer, who didn’t want to be named.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had inaugurated the three-storey mart spread over 7.50 acres on December 31, 2020. He had announced that the carpet exporters of Bhadohi would find global buyers at their doorstep. The Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC), which was tasked with the mart's operations, had also opened its regional office in the building. Four and a half years later, the mart remains unoperational.
The ₹17,000-crore carpet industry had expected the Narendra Modi government to strike a deal with the US to rationalise the tariffs, but hopes have dimmed after negotiations between India and the US for a trade deal foundered.
“American importers buy 60 per cent of our carpets and pay better than the European importers. This was the reason we didn’t expand our export market. Now we are suffering. We would have been able to strike deals with importers from other countries if the mart had become operational,” the carpet manufacturer said.
Bhadohi’s carpet makers export 98 per cent of their produce, of which 60 per cent go to the US. The other importers include Germany (5.5 per cent), the UK (4.90 per cent), Australia (4 per cent), the Netherlands (2.8 per cent) and France (2.2 per cent).
Whatever order they get is mostly the result of their individual efforts. The government’s interest in expanding the carpet market is reflected in a notification dated May 2, 2023, to the CEPC members on their participation in the China Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition held from June 15-19, 2023.
“This is to update all that we have received confirmation from the organisers that the China Qinghai International Carpet Exhibition, 2023 is scheduled from 15-19 June 2023. We would like to inform you that CEPC had applied for financial assistance from the ministry of commerce for participation in this fair. However, we have not received approval for any financial assistance. Therefore, CEPC will not be participating in the exhibition this year and we request our member exporters to kindly contact the organisers directly for participation in the exhibition,” it read.
“China is not a good place for our market, so we don’t regret that. Some manufacturers had participated in the exhibition in their individual capacity in 2024. But the bigger truth is that the government has in recent years curtailed some tax and export-related benefits that were meant to boost the sector,” said another carpet manufacturer, citing the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products and the Duty Drawback Scheme.
Built by the medium and small-scale enterprises and exports promotion department, the ₹170-crore mart in Bhadohi has two exhibition halls of 35,000sqft each, a 70,000sqm shopping zone and 94 shops for display of handmade carpets. But its fate is in limbo.
“Immediately after its inauguration, the roof started leaking. There were other problems as well. Currently, we are doing some repair work and fixing two escalators,” said Akhilesh Singh, regional officer of the CEPC posted at its office in the mart.
Singh said they were planning to organise the 49th international carpet fair at the mart in October, for which 350 buyers had applied for registration. However, he could not provide a time frame by which the mart would start full-fledged operations as an export-import hub.
“Keeping in view the current situation, the rate of allotment of areas to the members (to display their products) has been reduced from ₹9,000 to ₹7,000 per square metre,” he said.
Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that the BJP government does not intend to develop the industries in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the mart was built by his government in 2016-17.
“They are habitual hijackers and keep re-inaugurating the previous government’s projects. But that’s all they do, they don’t do anything on the ground for the growth of the industries,” he said, citing the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, the Lucknow Metro and Lucknow Cancer Hospital, which were built during his tenure as the chief minister but re-inaugurated by Adityanath or BJP ministers after 2017.
“The central government has spoiled India’s international relations,” Akhilesh said.