The Rug Library

Through European trading companies, Indian carpets of the Mughal era travelled west and as far east as China and Japan, and were eagerly collected in England and Portugal.

The Girdlers' Carpet was ordered from the royal workshops in Lahore by Robert Bell, a founding director of the English East India Company, and presented to the Worshipful Company of Girdlers in London in 1634; it remains at Girdlers' Hall.

The Carpet Export Promotion Council and the Jammu and Kashmir Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom held a seminar in New Delhi to promote QR-code GI labelling of Kashmiri hand-knotted carpets.

Panipat has been recognised as a 'Town of Export Excellence' under India’s Foreign Trade Policy, and most of its recycled yarn is reportedly exported.

Obeetee’s founders set up in Mirzapur in 1920, shortly after the First World War, aiming to benefit from the rising popularity of Indian carpets in Western markets.

Launch of QR-code GI labelling for Kashmiri carpets was expected to support an export trade then estimated at about US$40 million and benefit some 54,000 artisans registered with the Kashmir handicrafts department.

Kashmir’s local press reported in March 2022 that carpet exports picked up after the launch of QR-code GI tagging.

Jaipur Rugs, which began with two looms in 1978, reportedly exports to more than 60 countries while working with artisans in hundreds of villages across several Indian states.

Panipat is reported to account for a large share of India’s exports of hand-tufted carpets and higher-end durries—around three-quarters, by one newspaper estimate.

Recent reporting describes Kashmir’s hand-knotted carpet industry, once a leading export craft of the valley, as being in decline.