Telangana Handicrafts to tie-up with Amazon for Online Sales

Hyderabad: Telangana State Handicrafts Development Corporation (TSHDC) will tie up with e-commerce major Amazon to sell products online in its effort to build its trademark Golkonda.

TSHDC vice chairman and managing director Shailaja Ramaiyer said some of the major Telangana handicrafts including 'Dokra', 'Bidri' crafts, 'Nirmal' artworks, Cheriyal paintings, pearls and brass-ware would be put up on the online platform to start with. "Based on the response from the public, we will see if we can expand the product range on offer," Shailaja said.
Stressing that the products available on the portal are hand-made and not factory-produced, she said, These are not machine-made products and cannot be replicated again and again. We are looking at niche products. After creation of Telangana, it was mutually agreed that the successor State of Andhra Pradesh would retain the erstwhile trademark of Lepakshi, while Telangana unveiled its brand Golkonda for handicrafts. We are now going to build a new brand with trademark of 'Golkonda' (for Telangana handicrafts products), she said.
But the online foray comes at a time when several crafts are languishing in the state, which has some 55 handicrafts clusters across the state with a total of 1.2 lakh artisans working in the sector. Shailaja listed glass-blowing, stone-carving and Himroo among languishing crafts in the state. Stone-carving is one craft that is going to die with the way things are in Telangana, she said, adding that only a handful of artisans are involved in such craft now.

Source: PTI