Bihar

Bihar's exports are art forms with postcodes. Madhubani painting — the GI-protected Mithila folk art that hangs in galleries worldwide — is literally the ODOP product of Madhubani district, painted by village collectives whose senior artists carry national awards. Down the Ganges, Bhagalpur (our profiled hub) weaves the GI-listed tussar known simply as Bhagalpur Silk.

Bhagalpur: the tussar town

Bhagalpuri silk is wild-spun tussar with a dry, slubbed hand that fashion buyers prize for jackets, stoles and furnishing fabric. The city's weaving lanes — its ODOP designation — offer yardage, made-ups and blends, with cooperative and master-weaver structures that manage export orders. It is eastern India's most accessible silk cluster after Murshidabad.

The Mithila art economy

Madhubani work has professionalised: collectives take commissions for originals, licensed prints, stationery and fashion collaborations, with GI documentation underwriting authenticity. The allied Manjusha art of Bhagalpur and Sujni embroidery from Vaishali (its ODOP craft) extend the portfolio; Supaul's lac bangles add festive jewellery.

Makhana and the waterlands

Bihar dominates world production of makhana — GI-tagged as Mithila Makhana — the popped fox-nut riding the healthy-snacking wave into US and EU retail. Aromatic Marcha rice (GI) and West Champaran's flattened-rice chura deepen the specialty-grains file. For food brands hunting the next quinoa, this is the origin.

Routes and realism

Cargo consolidates via Patna and rails to Kolkata's ports. Supply chains are cooperative- and cluster-based; volumes suit programme buying, not spot containers. Source from Bihar for authenticated folk art, tussar silk, makhana and heritage grains — categories where the state is not an alternative source but the origin itself.