Trade Articles

With a rein to foster the growth rate in the leather industry, the UPA government has approved more than Rs 912 crore for the progress and development of the industry under the Indian Leather Development Programme (ILDP) during the 11th plan period (2007-2012). The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister Mr. Manmohan Singh. Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi said "The scheme would lead to development of infrastructure for the sector and would facilitate additional investment and employment generation." The sanctioned amount would be used for imparting training, developing infrastructure, capacity and upgrading technology. Implemented in the 9th plan (1997-2002), the ILDP was launched with a motive of culminating the opportunities and bridging the gaps existed in the leather industry for promoting productivity, employment and value addition. As per an estimate, the Indian leather industry is the profit game of Rs 40,000 crore, growing at 20 per cent rate. Of the total basket, exports hold around Rs 15,000 crore, which is rising at the rate of 13 per cent to 15 per cent. Mr. Mukhtarul Amin, Council for Leather Exports Chairman said that "The Indian leather industry is becoming more organized and requires investment for capacity expansion. Exporters are exploring markets in the US for which such assistance is required." Agra, Chennai, Jalandhar, Kanpur and Kolkata are the major leather hubs of India.

With number of people getting hooked onto the on door sports activities like horse racing, polo, is increasing, more and more opportunities are booming for the Indian leather industry in both domestic and international territory. In this regard, Kanpur has emerged as the indubitable winner in the production of high quality horse accessories with the doing of commendable business. In Kanpur alone, there are nearly 300 units with an estimated yearly 120 million dollars turnover, exporting to various countries like USA, UK, Australia and Germany. Syed Hussain, Owner of GB Exports situated in Kanpur points out that"When it comes to leather, Kanpur plays a key role for manufacturing the majority of products that are exported to Europe and UK. Generally, because of the availability of raw material, the leather industry is helping a great deal in the equestrian market". The industry is now paving its footprints into the Asian markets also like Thailand, Korea with many other countries now within their reach. The supreme quality of Indian leather with fine workmanship has made it hot bound item among global buyers looking for excellence and perfect work. Germany is known for its breeding world class racing horses but India is the favorite choice for the worldwide riders when it comes about sourcing horse riding equipments. "Many big riders like Olympic Coach Sam and others only prefer Indian saddler. They prefer Indian leather. All over the world Indian leather is used in every saddle," said Angad, Show Jumper, Indian Team.

After China, India is the second largest leather footwear producer in throughout the world with a production of more than 900 million pairs in a year. The government has set up a target of increasing the nation’s leather exports from $2.3 billion to $7 billion by 2010 which means widening the employment spectrum and generating over 1 million jobs. In present scenario, the value added leather products share around 80 per cent of the nation’s total export. The footwear-leather and non leather holds around 36 per cent of the total export, transited the country from raw hides and skins exporter to the entrusted value added leather products supplier. The sector has the employment generation capacity of providing job opportunities to more than 5.5 mn people.