West Bengal State Handicrafts Fair 2015 begins at Milan Mela ground

West Bengal State Handicrafts Fair, 2015 – one of the largest handicraft fairs in India – was inaugurated by Minister for Industry, Finance and Commerce Dr Amit Mitra at Milan Mela ground on Friday.

Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises Swapan Debnath was also present on the occasion. The fair will be open to the public from 1 pm-8:30 pm.

More than 3,500 handicraft artists participated in this annual fair organised by the Department of Small and Medium Enterprises, West Bengal government. The fair will conclude on December 13.

West Bengal government has instituted credit cards, modelled after kisan credit cards, for handicraft artisans in the state. Skill development training will also be provided to them by the Federation of India Export Organisation so that the manufactured products may be of export quality.

Through the credit cards, the artisans can take a maximum loan of Rs 50,000 and once they repay the loan, more amounts will be approved.