Darjeeling, Dec. 6: From a local industry to a global brand. It?s a mega metamorphosis that has been planned for the handlooms and handicraft of the eight northeastern states.

The North Eastern Finance Development Corporation, has requested the research wing of St Jospeh?s College (North Point) to develop marketing centres for the products in each of the eight northeastern states.

The project, supported by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), is one of the biggest ventures to be bagged by the research wing of a north Bengal college in recent times.

The project, tenable till 2006, will initially involve setting up a marketing centre at Guwahati. Other centres are slated to come up in Shillong, Imphal, Gangtok, Kohima, Itanagar, Aizawl and Agartala.

The Centre for Studies in Rural Economy, Appropriate Technology and Environment (CREATE), has already started its groundwork and the initial turnover at its Guwahati centre is expected to the touch Rs 6 crore by the end of next year.

?Handloom and handicrafts have always been primarily used for meeting the domestic demand. It is important that a market be created and our dream is to build a global brand in future,? said Milando Chakraborty, the director of CREATE.

Initial dialogue with the handloom and handicraft industry in Kenya and Nigeria has already been opened and plans are afoot to set up a global linkage with other countries like Bangladesh and Brazil.

?Our ultimate dream is to see that the handicraft of those countries are available in India and vice-versa,? said Chakraborty.

?We will ensure that the producers get at least 65 to 70 per cent of the total value of the product and we are working to create an exhaustive network which will do away with middleman,? he added.

The marketing centres will concentrate on items like wood-carving from Sikkim, bamboo work from Tripura and silk from Assam in the initial stages.

According to Chakraborty, CREATE will concentrate on four primary areas through the marketing centres.

?The primary concern of the producers is to get standard quality material in the required quantity and we will ensure that they do. Introduction of appropriate technology in designing and developing innovative packaging is also on the agenda,? Chakraborty said. ?We are also attaching a importance to educating customers about the product that they wish to buy.?

To make the project viable and provide it with an immediate fillip, CII has already agreed to the use the handloom and handicraft products as gifts that will be distributed among all its member industries.