HCLFoundation celebrates India's rich handicraft heritage, facilitates dialogues to strengthen sector

HCLFoundation, which drives the corporate social responsibility agenda of HCLTech in India, hosted the My E-Haat Conclave at Noida Haat, in Noida, to celebrate India's rich handicraft heritage and explore ways to strengthen the sector through technology, innovation and enhanced market access.

HCLFoundation's My E-Haat initiative has assisted over 5,500 artisans to date across multiple craft traditions in India, supporting the government of India's "vocal for local" vision. It operates in over 40 clusters across 10+ states, enabling artisans to become entrepreneurs. Artisans from over 110 clusters can sell their products directly to customers through the My E-Haat portal, thereby eliminating the role of middlemen and resulting in a 20-30% increase in income for the artisans.

The My E-Haat Conclave 2025, now in its third edition, brought together artisans, industry stakeholders and representatives from the government, civil society and academia for an afternoon of dialogue, product showcases and cultural performances.

TRIFED Managing Director Shri M. Raja Murugan delivered the keynote address on "Culture, Commerce & Community: Vision for Artisan Empowerment & Social Impact", while Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director General, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, delivered a speech on "Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Craft Revival-Building Sustainable Livelihoods through Innovation & Market Linkages". HCLFoundation collaborates with the Tamil Nadu Department of Prisons and Correctional Services to provide meaningful employment opportunities to prison inmates by enabling them to produce and sell various products.

"Through the My E-Haat initiative, HCLFoundation is aiming to strengthen the value chain of the Indian handicraft sector. My E-Haat empowers artisans to thrive in today's competitive global markets by guiding them from product inception to market connectivity, enhancing their craftsmanship, product showcase and digital literacy," said Dr. Nidhi Pundhir, SVP, Global CSR, HCLTech and Director, HCLFoundation.

The theme for this year's conclave was "Woven Stories: The Looms of Legacy" and two panel discussions were featured around this theme. The topic of the first one was "Interwoven Dialogues on Culture, Craft & Commerce: Turning Heritage into Economic Power" while the second focused on "Unlocking Entrepreneurship & Market Access for Artisans through Technology".

India's handicraft sector provides livelihood to over 7 million people and over 56% of the artisans are women. In FY25, India exported handicrafts worth Rs 15,000 crore, according to Statista.

Shares of HCL Technologies Limited was last trading in BSE at Rs. 1672.40 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 1672.45. The total number of shares traded during the day was 74091 in over 3428 trades.

The stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 1676.70 and intraday low of 1660.00. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 123695155.00.

Source : Equity Bulls

Keywords

HCLTechnologies INE860A01027 HCLFoundation EHaatConclave NoidaHaat