India gets first home decor business hub at Noida

Wednesday, 20 December 2006, 18:30 IST
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New Delhi: India's $3.5 billion home decor industry is all set to have its first exclusive international business hub at Noida, a suburban town of Delhi. International Home Deco Park (IHDP) will be built over five acres of land at a cost of $25 million and will house the top 100 Indian exporters of home decor products. It will become operational in February 2007. It will cover 350,000 sq feet, have a basement space of 60,000 sq feet and will house top 100 Indian exporters of home decor products. "It is the first business park in Asia-Pacific region specifically focused on home decor products," said Aditya Gupta, the IHDP director. "Be it textiles from across India, natural fibers from the south, handicrafts from Moradabad and Rajasthan, rugs from Varanasi and other exotic products from Kashmir, they will all be available to the global buyers at IHDP," he said. "India currently has about two percent share in the world home decor products market. IHDP would play a crucial role to increase this share by bringing Indian exporters and buyers from abroad on a single platform," he added. In the first year, IHDP is expected to generate a business of about $500 million, Gupta said. "The Indian home decor industry is highly scattered with companies and products around the country. There are no permanent business centers in India where domestic sellers and international buyers can come together. IHDP is an attempt to fill this gap," he said. Apart from providing showrooms to Indian exporters, IHDP would also provide services to sellers and buyers by housing logistic companies, product testing companies, photography studios and design centers, he added. "It will also have a training center, which will run courses of up to one year duration for partly experienced merchandisers and marketing professionals. "This would help to fill the gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower for Indian exporters. The industry is already feeling the heat due to shortage of skilled manpower in home decor segment," Gupta added.
Source: IANS