| Abstract: |
India is a country of great cultural heritage and India’s cultural diversity
provides plenty of remarkable art and craft products. Handicraft industry uses
conventional manual methods instead of advanced technology for making various
items. It is an unorganized, decentralized, labour intensive cottage industry.
Though handicraft industry employs millions of artisans, It is still miniscule
with respect to the global industry. This scenario is changing with the advent
of E-commerce initiatives at government as well as at private or individual
level. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the role of
E-commerce in the development of rural artisans in India by illustrating some
efforts of Government and Non-Government agencies, Groups and Individuals in
uplifting the socio-economic standard of the rural artisans through
E-commerce. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats/Challenges faced
or to be faced by rural handicraft artisans adopting E-commerce have also been
analyzed in this paper. Key words: Handicrafts, E-Commerce, Rural Artisans,
Rural Development, SWOT Analysis Policy |