Industrialists deliberate export promotion of Geographical Indication products from Mysuru: Agarbathi, Silk, Rosewood inlay, Sandalwood Oil and Soap etc.

Mysore/Mysuru: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, District Industries Centre (DIC), Mysore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Karnataka Chapter, had jointly organised a session on ‘Development of Mysuru District as an Export Hub’ at Hotel Pai Vista on Bengaluru-Nilgiri Road in city yesterday.

‘Districts as Export Hubs’ is a Government of India initiative which tries to target export promotion, manufacturing and employment generation at grassroots level thereby making States and Districts accountable for the export growth. The session deliberated on export promotion initiatives from Mysuru and also discussed the hurdles faced by exporters including teething problems in GST.

Mysuru has a huge potential for exports as there are distinct handicrafts and unique specialties like silk sarees, sweets and sandalwood. There is a need for transforming Mysuru into an export hub, participants felt.

Delegates opined that export promotion was never a focus area in the rural areas of the country. Through this initiative, the Government of India intends to contribute to the ‘Atma Nirbhar’ mission by significantly increasing the manufacturing and exports from urban areas while focusing on generating interest and economic activity in the rural hinterland and small towns in the country to push new businesses to export.

The session discussed coordinated effort towards trade and export promotion from Mysuru that would enhance manufacturing activities, promote goods and services exports, support MSMEs and local artisans, craftsmen, broaden coverage of e-commerce linkages, promote Geographical Indication (GI) products, improve logistics and agricultural sectors and support employment opportunities leading to wide-ranging economic benefits, including investment, manufacturing and export growth.

Global presence of Mysuru’s products

In her address, Joint Director and Karnataka Head of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, Soma Chaudhury said that some of the GI products from Mysuru have been identified as Mysuru Agarbathi, Mysuru Silk, Mysuru Rosewood Inlay, Mysuru Sandalwood Oil, Mysuru Sandal Soap, Mysuru Traditional Paintings. With such a range of potential export products which can also be exported through e-commerce, entrepreneurs and exporters from Mysuru have a niche place in the global market.

“There is a lot of potential for export in districts but at the same time there are challenges like infrastructure, logistics, labour, cost of credit, etc. and if we can address these challenges and explore the opportunities of the districts, then exports from the country and State both will increase substantially. These challenges can be solved by infrastructure development, IT infusion and developing digital platforms,” she added.

Services and merchandise export value

As far as Karnataka is concerned, the products that showed growth in 2022-23 compared to 2021-22, apart from service exports, are petroleum, aerospace, gem and jewellery, coffee, agro-processed foods, seeds and beverages. “Karnataka stands at fourth position in all India as far as merchandise exports are concerned after Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. If we take services and merchandise export value together, Karnataka stands second after Gujarat,” she added.

In his address, A.K. Shivaji Rao, Honorary Secretary, MCCI, said that the MCCI assures exporters that its main objective is to promote export business and will act as a true representative of businesses. “The MCCI has been conducting seminars, workshops and round table discussions, trade promotion programmes including overseas missions, mailings and event planning. The MCCI acts as a representative between foreign companies and business entities of Mysuru,” he said.

Joint Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Bengaluru, H.D. Lokesh; MCCI President K.B. Lingaraju; Joint Director of DIC, Mysuru, T. Dinesh; Assistant Commissioner, Export Promotion Cell – Mysuru Customs, G. Srinath; Joint Commissioner – Enforcement, Commercial Taxes, Mysuru, D. Kambanna; Chief Manager and Lead Bank Manager, State Bank of India, Mysuru, P. Dinesh; Indian Enterprise Development Service Dy. Director, MSME Development and Facilitation Office, Bengaluru, Gopinath Rao; Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Audit-I, GST, Mysuru, Ramesh Narasaiah; Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, Mysuru, S.M. Mathad; Mysuru Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayanagowda and a host of others attended the session.