Product Selection

Clothing & Textiles

High street retail outlets use Indian manufacturers because their costs are so low. Many designer labels are manufactured in India so the quality is extremely high.

Laura Ashley, Zara, Accessorize, Conran, Habitat, Marks & Spencer, Graham & Green, John Lewis, Liberty and Harrods are just a few of the many examples of quality retailers benefiting from the booming Indian economy and the ever expanding manufacturing base there.

Unique Hand Made Furniture

Indian furniture can be plain, carved, intricately painted or inlaid with stone or mother-of-pearl. It can be modern or traditional, you can even have your own designs manufactured for you.

If you have the chance you should go and watch a craftsman finish a pice of furniture. Painting is almost always done by hand, without stencils and is an incredibly skilled art.

Indian furniture is made from wood, steel, silver, aluminum, leather, wrought Iron and even plastic. It can have intricate carvings and fine detailing or be simple and functional. The quality is very consistent with specific manufacturers.

Gems & Jewellery

The Gem and Jewellery industry can be classified principally into diamonds, rubies, sapphires, coloured stones, gold and silver jewellery, and pearls. However, the two major segments in India are gold and diamonds. India dominates the global diamond processing trade with eleven out of twelve diamonds being cut and polished in India.

Although dominant role in terms of processing and consumption, mining of gold and diamond is amongst the lowest in the world. India imports gold and rough diamonds along with other precious metals. Gold is purchased from countries like Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, UAE, etc and rough diamonds are sourced from Belgium, UK, Israel and UAE.

Jewellery centres like Jaipur are very important and one of the best places in the world to source jewellery.

India’s Gem and Jewellery industry is highly unorganized and fragmented with 96% being family owned businesses. The gold processing industry has around 15,000 businesses, with only 80 earning over $5m. India has around 450,000 goldsmiths, 100,000 gold jewellers along with 6,000 diamond processing companies and 8,000 diamond jewellers.

The big names are Rajesh Exports, Gitanjali Gems, Suhashish Diamonds, Su-Raj Diamonds, Vaibhav Diamonds and Tanishq.

Gifts & Handicrafts

Don't be mislead by the term handicrafts as in India it means hand crafted and denotes a higher quality than is implied in British culture.

This is such a vast range of products that it is hard to categorise these items further. They are produced all over India. Those you find at the international fairs are generally of high quality.

Decorations

Again the range of products is enormous and of generally a high standard, though you do need to be thorough when buying, even at the international fairs.

Generally if you order an item that you have seen then you will receive the same quality. This is where buying in person is a huge advantage. Manufacturers tend to produce the same quality across their entire range, just be careful if they outsource or do something that is not one of their usual products.

Christmas decorations are mostly only displayed at the Spring fair.

Glassware

Glass articles like bowls, tumblers and bottles for precious things, like Indian scents, were made. Other items like phials, bottles, jars and lamp chimneys are attractively made in a wide range of shapes.

Engraving on glass is more common producing delicate foliated designs. Glass bangles, with innumerable colors and patterns are common. Ferozabad, in Uttar Pradesh, has an entire community devoted to producing glassware and tableware

Glass beads are a speciality of Varanasi.

The tukli technique in Patna involves decorative items on glass, with gold or silver additions.

Home Furnishings & Accessories

The textile industry in India is one of the largest segments of the Indian Economy and accounts for over one fifth of the country's industrial production.

The Indian craftsmen produce an exotic and fascinating range of yarn, fabric, home textiles and soft furnishings.

The product range includes bedspreads, curtains, rugs, durries, carpets, placemats, cushion covers, table covers, linen, kitchen accessories, made-ups, bath linen, and other home furnishings.

In addition to the home furnishings, a variety of floor coverings such as carpets, durries, druggets, prayer rugs, hooked rugs and namdas are produced in certain regions.

Many of the techniques used are traditional and produced by small family run businesses.

Leather Goods

The most popular leather products in India are shoes and handbags. Shoes come in a variety of traditional embroidery, brocade or textile designs as well as modern designer styles. You can have anything made or copied in India.

Kholapuri chappals from Maharashtra are very popular in India, being soft and comfortable to wear.

A particular type of thickish shoes, called mojadis are made in Rajasthan. They are decorated with silk, metal embroidery and beads.

Jaipur probably has the most fancy and sophisticated footwear.

Jodhpur produces embroidered leather goods.

Kopi is a water bottle made in Bikaner from camel hide. Bikaner and Jaisalmer have decorative saddles for horses and camels.

Bengal produces handbags in batik style with the cracks, bold curves, and traditional motifs.

Leather items of Kashmir are very ornamental. The red leather embroidered with gold and silk is unique in Madhya Pradesh.

In Hoshiarpur, Punjab, applique work is done with colored leather pieces. Leather with metallic gold or silvery finish is done in Karnataka.

There are also crocodile and snakeskins products including wallets, pouches, handbags, and belts.

Stone & Marble

In India traditional stone carving seems to be centered on temples. Made in a variety of stones, ranging from soft-brittle sandstone and patchy red stone to hard granite, the craftsmen carve replicas of the shore temples at Puri, Bhuvaneshwar and Konark.

Terra-cotta objects are made by hand or on the wheel, and then fired in an open oven. The surface is rubbed and polished with wood or stones while it is still wet.

Craftsmen use traditional techniques are used to carve stone into intricate lace screens

Gujarat specialises in the cutting and polishing semi-precious stones.

In Bihar, the black stone is used to make every day utensils.

In Rajhastan, red sandstone is widely used to make functional everyday items

Lamps

There is a whole range of lamps and lighting from the traditional to the modern.

Please make sure that you specify the correct voltage electrical fittings for your destination country and that they meet the required safety standards.

Garden Furniture

There is a huge range which predominantly includes fountains, planters, garden lanterns, garden lighting, bird baths, urns, hanging baskets, pedestals and garden benches.

They are principally made from wrought iron, brass, stone, copper and bamboo and are all varnished, painted, carved, embossed or sculpted to be weather resilient.

Pottery & Ceramics

The anciety town of Khurja (80 kms from Delhi), is the centre of the ceramic industry. Khurja pottery goes back 600 years when potters first moved from Delhi. They produced red pottery and later introduced blue glazes over the red clay.

The stoneware base for blue pottery is made from powdered quartz, which is then glazed blue, with the same ingredients that were used for the blue tiles found in the Mughal domes. This unique style is known as Delhi blue pottery.

The Jaipur blue pottery is equally famous and unique. It is impervious, so it is more practical for daily use. Some of this pottery is semi-transparent and mostly decorated with animals and birds motifs. These pottery items, unlike those of Delhi, are made out of Egyptian paste and fired at very low temperature. Many of these are decorative and include vases, coasters, small bowls and boxes.

Bamboo, Jute & Cane Products

These range from practical items like furniture, baskets and mats to fishing devices and the distinctive leaf-headgear worn by tea workers and farmers. Bamboo umbrella handles etched with leaf, creeper and plant designs are a speciality of the Northeast.

Tripura is famous for its split bamboo work, especially its elegant screens, so finely finished that it resembles ivory.

Assam and Bengalare are best known for their mats, baskets, beer mugs, hukkas, musical instruments, floor mats, fishing devices and handles. Mizo baskets, made for storing rice, are woven with four long bamboo splints at the corners.

Arunachal Pradesh specialises in bamboo bridges and cane belts.

Orissa uses what is known as the golden grass which has a distinct look.

In Manipur they make unusual baskets, with dome shaped bamboo lids.

Kerala is best known for the extraordinary fine detail of its mats and square bamboo boxes.

West Bengal manufactures over 70% of all Jute products which include cushion covers, table-mats, table covers, tea cosies, floor coverings, garments and stuffed toys.

Zari Products

Zari is a type of thread made of fine gold or silver wire used in traditional Indian garments. This thread is woven into fabrics, primarily made of silk to create intricate patterns. It is believed this tradition started during the Mughal era.

Zari is the main material in most silk sarees and ghararas. It is also used in other garments made of silk, like skirts, tops and vettis.

The main centres are Surat in Gujrat, Bareilly, Agra and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and Jaipur and Barmer in Rajasthan.

Candles, Incense & Cosmetics

There is an enormous range of candles and incense produced in India as they have a strong religious significance.

Cosmetic manufacture is now world class so finding a producer that meets the new stringent European Community rules on cosmetic production is not difficult.

Cosmetics and skin care products can be personally branded and packaged in any way you wish. The low production cost of glass pots and bottles means you can design a high quality range of products at little extra cost.

Toys

Trupati Dolls are figures carved out of wood and are then formally decorated.

Leather puppets are made in Andhra Pradesh. They are about five feet high, translucent and dramatically painted in vegetable dyes using traditional painting techniques.

For hundreds of years, pith or Indian cork has been used in Assam to make toys and dolls which are traditionally painted in bright colours.

Musical Instruments

These range from the traditional Indian intruments like sithars and tablas to modern European instruments. Think world music and jazz.

Paper Maché and Paper Products

Indian craftsmen use a variety of raw materials to produce paper and paper pulp ranging from vegetable fibre (including leaves, tree moss, potatoes, and flowers), old ropes, canvas, linen and cotton rags. In fact, anything can be used as long as it has fibres capable of forming a continuous sheet.

These materials can be fashioned into an enormous range of durable items that can be moulded, painted and lacquered.

Metalware

Moradabad, Jaipur and Delhi are the main centres for metal crafts.

Water pitchers (lotas) and metal based lamps are made in almost all parts of the country.

The bell-metal vessels (urli) are made in specifically in Kerala

In Ladhak, decorative kitchen stoves are made purely by hand.

Bronze metal icons are manufactured in Southern India.

Moradabad is known for its coloured enamelling and intricate engravings in nielloIt. They also produce metal-wire inlay work with picture panels.

Delhi is known for its pie-crust designs (paildar).

Koftgari, technically known as damascening, is the art of inlaying different metals into one another-- typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background. It is used to create a wide range of practical and ornamental products.

Kashmir is famous for metal engraving on walking sticks, nutcrackers, cutlery and knives.

Rajasthan produces high quality silver ware. Spice boxes, caskets and cigarette cases are made of silver with intricate designs.