FM Nirmala Sitharaman's booster shot for exports -- Dubai-like annual shopping festival in India

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (Image- PTI)

India will now have its own version of an annual shopping festival on the lines of the one hosted by Dubai. This annual shopping festival, likely to begin from March 2020, will be held in four Indian cities, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while announcing multiple measures to revive exports at a press conference on September 14.

Sitharaman said, “India will host an annual mega shopping festival like the one held in Dubai, in four cities.”

Catch all the live updates on Sitharaman's latest economic revival package

However, she noted, the theme of the festival in each city will be different and will span across sectors such as gems and jewellery, yoga, textiles, tourism, and leather.

“It will happen by March 2020,” Sitharaman added. The four cities are yet to be finalized by the Ministry of Commerce. This is in a bid to benefit the small and medium enterprises in the export sector.

To boost exports further, Sitharaman said, artisans in the space of handicrafts and textiles will be on-boarded on the government's e-commerce platform.

“Mass on-boarding of artisans will happen across India,” Sitharaman said, adding, this will be done in partnership with the Textile Ministry.

Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary, Confederation of All India Traders, said in a statement, "Organising Mega Shopping festivals on the pattern of Dubai & Shanghai will prove to be a showcase of Indian products to the rest of the world."

Though the festival will help showcase Indian products and encouraging, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said, it should be extended to agricultural products as well.

In a statement, ICC said, "Apart from the four themes that have been announced, agriculture exports should also be included, as we are one of the largest producer of agri products in the world, with a sizeable portion of the workforce employed therein."