The country's handicraft exports rose about 10 per cent, year-on-year, to 497 million dollars in August 2012, even as demand remained subdued in major markets like the US and Europe. According to data provided by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, during the April 2012 to August 2012 period, handicrafts exports rose 9.7 per cent, to 1.2 billion dollars, compared to the same period last year.The US and Europe together account for over 60 per cent of the country's total handicraft exports. The Council expects handicraft exports to touch 3.2 billion dollars in the current fiscal, compared to 2.75 billion in the last fiscal.