A 11-day exhibition-cum-sale of items made by Self-Help
Groups from eight districts in the State began on the VOC Park grounds
here on Monday.

More than 100 SHGs from Erode,
Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tirupur, Salem and
Namakkal districts are participating in the exhibition. The groups have
displayed an array of products including toys, processed food items,
handicrafts, sweets, jewellery, bangles, paper bags, hand-stitched
clothes, herbal remedies, food products, cosmetics, clothes and bed
spreads in 105 stalls.

Inaugurating the exhibition,
District Collector V.K. Shanmugam said the Tamil Nadu Corporation for
the Development of Women had organised the exhibition to facilitate SHGs
to market their products and generate marketing leads.

He
appealed to people in the district to extend their support to SHG
members as a majority of them were coming from the below poverty line
families.

Mr. Shanmugam also called upon the SHG
members to put in more efforts to market their products at the
exhibition. The members should utilise the opportunities provided by the
State government to popularise their products among people, which would
help them enhance their sales.

District Rural
Development Agency Project Director S. Vidhyasagar, Mahalir Thittam
Project Officer P. Renuga Devi, Assistant General Manager of National
Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development G. Santhanam and senior
officials were present during the inauguration.

Entry to the exhibition that will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day till March 7 is free.