Key takeaways
- Most Indian export goods are made in a few specialised towns, often far from the port. Knowing the cluster tells you which inspector travels and how far.
- India has 43 Towns of Export Excellence. A town holds that status only for its listed product: Surat for gems and jewellery, not textiles; Ludhiana for woollen knitwear, not bicycles.
- One District One Product (ODOP) names a district, not a town, and a geographical indication (GI) protects a named product, not a factory.
- A cluster tells you where a product is commonly made, not whether a given supplier is good. Audit and inspect the factory itself.
How to read this map
Each table lists a product group, the towns known for it, the state and the official recognition the town's page cites. Every town links to its own page with sources, and every product group to its inspection page. Three kinds of recognition appear:
- Town of Export Excellence (TEE). A town the Government of India recognises for one export product. There are 43. DGFT's Appendix 1B still lists the original 39; the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 added Faridabad (apparel), Mirzapur (handmade carpets and dari), Moradabad (handicrafts) and Varanasi (handlooms and handicrafts). A town is a TEE only for its listed product.
- One District One Product (ODOP). A product named for a whole district, so we write it as the district, for example Bulandshahr district (Khurja).
- Geographical indication (GI). A registered name for a product from a place, such as Firozabad Glass.
Where a town has none of these, its page cites another official or published source.
Furniture, wood, handicrafts and décor
| Product | Cluster | State | Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid wood and metal furniture, handicrafts | Jodhpur | Rajasthan | TEE: handicrafts |
| Furniture, wood and stone décor, blue pottery, block prints | Jaipur | Rajasthan | TEE: handicrafts |
| Carved sheesham furniture and wood décor | Saharanpur | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: handicrafts; GI Saharanpur wood craft; ODOP: wood craft (Saharanpur district) |
| Brass, aluminium and iron décor, lighting | Moradabad | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: handicrafts (FTP 2023) |
| Embroidered and appliqué textile handicrafts | Barmer | Rajasthan | TEE: handicrafts; ODOP: textile-based handicrafts (district) |
| Marble, stone and bone inlay furniture | Udaipur | Rajasthan | Indian Bureau of Mines marble region |
| Shawls, carpets, papier-mâché, walnut wood | Srinagar | Jammu and Kashmir | TEE: handicrafts; GIs incl. Kashmir Pashmina |
| Lac-turned wooden toys | Channapatna | Karnataka | GI Channapatna Toys & Dolls |
| Locks and hardware, metal craft | Aligarh | Uttar Pradesh | ODOP: locks and hardware (Aligarh district) |
| Incense and silk | Mysuru | Karnataka | GI Mysore Silk; Mysore Agarbathi GI registration valid to 10 Aug 2024, no renewal recorded (Oct 2026) |
Textiles, apparel, rugs and natural fibres
| Product | Cluster | State | Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home textiles, bath mats, blankets | Panipat | Haryana | TEE: woollen blankets; carpets, other textile floor coverings and bed linen |
| Bed, table and kitchen linen | Karur | Tamil Nadu | TEE: handlooms |
| Handloom home textiles | Erode | Tamil Nadu | District profile (handloom exports) |
| Hand-knotted, tufted and flatweave rugs | Bhadohi–Mirzapur | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: Bhadohi for carpets; Mirzapur for handmade carpets and dari (FTP 2023) |
| Knitwear | Tiruppur | Tamil Nadu | TEE: hosiery (spelt Tirupur) |
| Garments | Delhi NCR, Noida | Delhi NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh | TEE: Gurgaon (apparel), Noida (apparel products), Faridabad (apparel, FTP 2023) |
| Woollen knitwear | Ludhiana | Punjab | TEE: woollen knitwear only |
| Man-made fabrics, sarees | Surat | Gujarat | TEE for gems and jewellery, not textiles |
| Cotton fabric and denim | Ahmedabad | Gujarat | TEE: textiles |
| Powerloom fabric | Bhiwandi | Maharashtra | TEE: textiles |
| Silk, brocade and handloom | Varanasi | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: handlooms and handicrafts (FTP 2023) |
| Yarn | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | District administration profile |
| Coir mats and pith | Alappuzha | Kerala | TEE: coir products (Alleppey); GI Alleppey Coir |
| Jute products, leather goods | Kolkata | West Bengal | Council for Leather Exports; ODOP Kolkata leather goods |
Leather, footwear, glass, ceramics and sports goods
| Product | Cluster | State | Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather and non-leather footwear | Agra | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: leather products; GI Agra Leather Footwear |
| Saddlery, finished leather | Kanpur | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: leather products; GI Kanpur Saddlery |
| Leather footwear and goods | Ambur, Chennai | Tamil Nadu | TEE: Ambur for leather products |
| Glass décor and tableware | Firozabad | Uttar Pradesh | TEE: glass artwares; GI Firozabad Glass |
| Stoneware and pottery | Khurja | Uttar Pradesh | GI Khurja Pottery; ODOP: Bulandshahr district (Khurja) |
| Tiles and sanitaryware | Morbi | Gujarat | TEE: ceramic tiles and sanitaryware |
| Marble | Kishangarh | Rajasthan | ODOP: granite and marble (Ajmer district) |
| Sports goods | Meerut, Jalandhar | Uttar Pradesh, Punjab | ODOP: sports goods (Meerut district) |
Engineering goods, printing, bulk goods and ports
| Product | Cluster | State | Source on the town page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castings, pumps | Rajkot, Kolhapur, Coimbatore | Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu | DC-MSME clusters; Kolhapur's TEE is for textiles only |
| Brass parts | Jamnagar | Gujarat | Gujarat Industries Commissionerate |
| Auto components, bicycle parts | Pune, Chennai, Ludhiana | Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab | Published sources on each town page; not TEE products |
| Utensils, plywood | Jagadhri–Yamunanagar | Haryana | DC-MSME district profile |
| Printing and paper | Sivakasi, Pune | Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra | DC-MSME printing clusters |
| Electronics, garments | Bengaluru | Karnataka | DC-MSME clusters |
| Chemicals and dyes (packing and sampling only) | Ankleshwar–Vapi | Gujarat | DC-MSME district profiles |
| Spices, seafood, coir (packing and loading) | Kochi | Kerala | Commodity boards' head offices |
| Jewellery, garments; port | Mumbai | Maharashtra | SEEPZ; JNPA port |
| Container loading | Mundra | Gujarat | Port, not a manufacturing cluster |
Some TEEs have no town page yet and are covered on their state page: Bhilwara (textiles) on Rajasthan, Kannur (handlooms) on Kerala, Madurai (handlooms) and Pollachi (coir) on Tamil Nadu, and Anantnag (handicrafts) on Jammu and Kashmir. Several other TEEs are for seafood, cashew, pharmaceuticals or farm products, where an inspection covers packing, quantity and loading only.
Using the map to plan inspections
The cluster decides how far an inspector travels, and that sets cost and notice. Clear To Load prices by the man-day (US$249) with three travel bands:
- Band A: Jodhpur, no travel fee.
- Band B: Jaipur, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Delhi NCR and Kolkata, where our other inspectors are based: US$99 per man-day.
- Band C: anywhere else in India, at actual travel cost quoted before you book, with up to 5 working days' notice.
Two practical points. Clusters are often inland, so inspect at the factory before the road journey to port and check carton strength. And several towns in one region can share a trip: Jodhpur, Barmer and Udaipur; Moradabad and Saharanpur; Agra, Firozabad and Khurja from Delhi NCR. Look up any town on the coverage page, see all states on the India page, and read the quality guide to sourcing from India for the full plan. Comparing countries? See India vs China and India vs Vietnam.
Sources
- DGFT, Appendix 1B: List of Towns of Export Excellence
- PIB: Foreign Trade Policy 2023 announced, four new Towns of Export Excellence incl. Faridabad and Mirzapur (31 Mar 2023)
- EPCH press release: Moradabad and Varanasi declared Towns of Export Excellence (31 Mar 2023)
- Invest India: National ODOP product list (5 May 2023)
- ODOP Uttar Pradesh: Bulandshahr ceramic products
- ODOP Uttar Pradesh: Meerut