Products include: rugs and throws, Nag Champa incense, vajras, cowbells, some handmade books.

In the last few years, about 95% of our business with India has been done via two Indian trading companies based in Delhi. These companies are run by people who we are happy to deal with as they are reasonably ethically and socially aware. As part of our increased emphasis on ethical trading, we have been inspecting factories which regularly supply us with goods. This is quite difficult, since the factories are spread over a large geographical area. 

Generally speaking, factory conditions in India are not likely to be as good as in China, and wages are lower but, on the positive side, factory workers are more likely to work near to where they live and therefore to have a more integrated life-style, not entirely centred on work.

Our printed jute bags are made in a small and very poor village near Bombay. The materials are brought to the village each morning in a truck, the villagers work during the day, and then the truck comes and takes away the completed bags. The supplier said that it would be quicker and more cost-effective to ask the workers to come to a factory every day, rather than taking the materials to them, but he is keen to support the village, so that the people can remain together and continue their way of life.

In general, the Indian situation is less simple than this. Work is often farmed out to impoverished people in the cities, who live in quite poor conditions. There is little stability in the workforce, and often, when there is no work, the families have no income. We do our best to trade with suppliers who are making some effort to improve things. For example, one of the factories we visited near Delhi is running a clinic for the workers, which is also open to other people. And another company who manufactures gifts for us has been giving out food on the streets as well as providing blankets for those who need them.

However, some of our metal boxes were being made in a place where the conditions were quite poor, and probably the only thing to do is to cease trading with them, which we have. In general, the trading that we are doing seems to be having a good effect in a context of a great deal of poverty. The conditions of the craftsmen and craftswomen, relatively speaking, are good.