Beautiful Shawls Amid the Spectacular Golden Temple

Tourists visiting the spectacularly beautiful Golden Temple at Amritsar which means “holy pool of nectar”, now have an extra reason to visit this spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion.

Amritsar has now become a flourishing centre for the production of exquisite shawls and fashion stoles.

Traditional handwoven shawls have given way to intricate computer designs and modern machinery has overtaken the tedious hand embroidery of the shawls and stoles. Amritsar has long been in competition with Kashmiri shawls but new production methods and computer designs are making the Amritsar shawls and stoles increasingly popular in the domestic and export markets.

Indian shawls have become a popular fashion accessory, and increasingly so among the younger generation which has helped boost exports from the Punjab.

Amritsar shawl makers are targeting markets in the USA, Europe, the Middle East, Japan and Australia.

"Globalization has increased our market worldwide. In the domestic market customers are demanding new designs and simple designed shawls are out of fashion giving boost to designer shawls. Designs are being created on computers,” said Mr. J.S. Madan, Chairman of the Shawl Club.

He estimated that in recent years the value of shawl exports has increased from $13million to about $88million.