Handicrafts Export Award

What is the Handicrafts Export Award?

Handicrafts Export Award; kaivinaipporutkal ettrumathi virudhu in Tamil, is one of seven artisan awards given by the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited, which trades as Poompuhar and functions under the Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. The award exists to encourage artisans who take Tamil Nadu's handicrafts into export markets rather than selling only within the state.

According to Poompuhar's own description of its artisan awards, the Handicrafts Export Award goes to 2 exporting artisans each year. Published descriptions of the scheme state that each award carries a cash prize of Rs 40,000, a 4 gram gold medal, one thamirapattiram and a certificate. A thamirapattiram is an inscribed copper plate, the traditional Tamil form of a citation. Because Poompuhar publishes the operative terms in the award notification for each year, an applicant should confirm the current amount on that year's form rather than assume the figure carries forward.

What makes this award different from the others. Poompuhar's six other awards are judged on craftsmanship. An entered object, a body of work, a team's production, a young artisan's skill. The Handicrafts Export Award is judged on documented trade. The 2026-27 application form devotes a table to invoice numbers with dates and the matching Bill of Lading, Air Way Bill or Shipping Bill, and asks for the applicant's registration with the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) or the District Industries Centre (DIC). An artisan cannot win this one with a single beautiful piece; the claim rests on consignments that actually left the country.

Where the award sits in Poompuhar's award set. The corporation gives all seven awards on a common annual cycle:

Poompuhar notes that Tamil Nadu gives the highest number of awards to artisans of any state in the country each year.

Who is eligible for the Handicrafts Export Award, and who is not eligible?

You can apply if:

• You are a handicraft artisan in Tamil Nadu who has exported handicraft items made by your craft.
• You hold a Poompuhar identity card. The application form's first field asks for the Poompuhar Identity Card No., so registration with the corporation as an artisan is the practical precondition for the whole application.
• You are registered for export with EPCH, the Office of the DC (Handicrafts) or your District Industries Centre, as the form requires.
• You can produce invoices and shipping documents: Bill of Lading, Air Way Bill or Shipping Bill — for the exports you are claiming.
• You can furnish an affidavit on Rs 100 stamp paper attested by a Notary Public in the format Poompuhar prescribes for the year.

You cannot apply if:

• You have already received this award. The application conditions state that artisans who have previously won should not participate again, and the affidavit records that declaration expressly.
• You are simultaneously applying for another Poompuhar award in the same year. The conditions require an artisan to apply for only one award in a year, and the affidavit names the other awards that are not to be claimed at the same time.
• You have no documented exports. An artisan who sells to domestic showrooms, tourists or online buyers within India is not eligible for this particular award, though the Poompuhar State Award, District Craft Award and Utility Based Award remain open.
• You are not the maker. The award recognises the artisan-exporter, not a trading house or a middleman who buys finished crafts and ships them.
• You submit after the last date, which for 2026-27 was 30 July 2026 at 5.00 p.m. Late applications are not eligible.

How to apply for the Handicrafts Export Award

1. Register with Poompuhar as an artisan and obtain your Poompuhar identity card number. The application form begins with this field and an application without it cannot be processed. Registration is done through the corporation and its district offices, and takes time: do it well before the award season rather than during it.
2. Get your export registration in place. Register with the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) or your District Industries Centre, because the form asks for this registration by name.
3. Watch the awards notification page at tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/. Poompuhar publishes the year's application forms, circulars, extensions and selection lists there in Tamil and English for all seven awards. The 2026-27 forms were published together, and the Handicrafts Export Award form runs to five pages.
4. Download and fill the correct year's form. Use the form headed Handicrafts Export Award Application 2026-27 (or the current year), not a previous year's version. It asks for your identity card number, name, craft, address, bank particulars and full export details.
5. Assemble the export record. Complete the table of invoice numbers and dates and attach the matching Bill of Lading, Air Way Bill or Shipping Bill for each consignment. This is the evidence the selection turns on, so incomplete or mismatched paperwork is fatal.
6. Execute the affidavit. Have the affidavit typed on Rs 100 stamp paper in Poompuhar's prescribed format and attested by a Notary Public, declaring that you have not previously received this award and are not claiming another Poompuhar award this year. Poompuhar issued a circular for a revised affidavit format for 2026-27, so use the current format.
7. Submit before the deadline. Deliver or send the completed application with all enclosures to the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, before 5.00 p.m. on the last date.
8. Follow the selection. A selection committee constituted by the corporation assesses the applications and Poompuhar announces the awardees. Selection lists are published on the same notification page, the 2022-23 export award selection list, for instance, is still posted there.

What documents are required?

What are the deadlines?

Poompuhar notifies all seven awards together and extends them together, so the dates move as a block. The pattern over the last two cycles:

• 2026-27: application forms were published for the Living Craft Treasure Award, Poompuhar State Award, Poompuhar District Craft Award, Utility Based Award, Handicrafts Export Award, Team Production Award and Gen Next Competition. The Handicrafts Export Award form carried 30 July 2026 at 5.00 p.m.; a circular extended the revised affidavit to 31 July 2026; the Poompuhar State Award was extended to 24 July 2026; and the Living Craft Treasure Award to 10 August 2026.
• 2025-26: the corporation announced that submission of the Living Craft Treasure Award, Team Production Award, Utility Based Handicraft Award, Handicraft Export Award, Poompuhar District Craft Award and Gen Next Competition Award was extended up to 10 September 2025.

Check tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/ before relying on any date. Extensions are issued frequently and are published only there.

Why applications fail

• No Poompuhar identity card number. The form cannot be completed without it, and obtaining a card is not a same-week process.
• Export documents that do not match the invoices. An invoice without its Bill of Lading, Air Way Bill or Shipping Bill, or a shipping document whose value and date do not line up with the invoice, leaves the committee unable to verify the claim.
• No EPCH, DC (Handicrafts) or DIC registration, which the form asks for directly.
• Affidavit in the wrong format or not notarised. Poompuhar issued a separate circular for a revised affidavit format for 2026-27 precisely because defective affidavits were coming in.
• Applying for two awards in one year, which the conditions prohibit outright.
• A previous winner re-applying, which the affidavit is designed to catch.
• Claiming trading rather than craft. The award is for an artisan who exports what the artisan makes, not for a buyer-exporter.
• Late submission, after 5.00 p.m. on the last date.

Where to ask and where to complain

• Corporation: Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (Poompuhar), 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002. Telephone 044-28521271, 28521325, 28521798 and 28525094; email tnhdc@tn.gov.in.
• Awards page: tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/ for notifications, application forms, circulars, extensions and selection lists.
• Poompuhar mobile app, which the corporation's award conditions refer to for artisan services.
• Department: the Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department, Government of Tamil Nadu.

There is no application fee beyond the cost of the Rs 100 stamp paper and the notary attestation. No intermediary can secure an award: selection rests entirely with the committee constituted by the corporation.

How to check your application status

Poompuhar does not run an online applicant portal for the Handicrafts Export Award, so there is no login, tracking number or SMS system to check against. There are still three real ways an applicant can find out where things stand.

1. Watch the awards notification page. tnhdc.poompuhar.com/award/ is where the corporation posts everything about the award cycle: the application form, any circulars extending a deadline or revising the affidavit format, and eventually the selection list naming that year's awardees. The 2022-23 export award selection list, for example, is still posted there, so a past cycle's result stays visible even after the fact. If your name has not appeared on a published selection list, your application has not been selected for that year.
2. Call or email the corporation directly. Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (Poompuhar), 759, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, can be reached at 044-28521271, 28521325, 28521798 or 28525094, or by email at tnhdc@tn.gov.in. Because the award has no case-tracking system, an applicant enquiring by phone or email should be ready to state the award name, the year applied for, and their Poompuhar identity card number so the office can locate the physical file.
3. Keep proof of submission. Since the application is submitted physically to the Chennai office, retain the courier receipt, registered post acknowledgement, or the office's own acknowledgement if the form was hand-delivered. This is the only record an applicant holds that the application was received before the 5.00 p.m. deadline, and it is what the corporation will ask for if a submission appears to be missing from its records.

There is no intermediate "under review" status published for this award: an applicant's cycle ends either with the name appearing on the selection list, or with no award for that year. The corporation does not routinely notify unsuccessful applicants individually, so checking the notification page after the announced selection date is the most reliable way to get a definite answer.