Indian finance minister opens IILF
31/01/2012
Mr Palanimanickam, who has earned praise from commentators in the Indian leather industry for his personal support for the idea of setting up leather clusters in different parts of India, pointed out in a speech at the opening ceremony that, with the exception of the 2009–2010 financial year, India’s leather-sector exports have grown in value by at least 10% per year for the last seven years, reaching $3.8 billion in 2010–2011.
He pointed out that support from the federal government in allocating land to tannery, effluent treatment and factory projects had been a feature of the leather industry’s growth and said he would take on board recent requests for extra support for the Indian leather industry in the face of ongoing economic challenges in Europe.
These requests came from the chairman of India’s Council for Leather Exports, Rafeeque Ahmed, in the build-up to IILF 2012. Mr Ahmed recognised that support from the federal government, as well as from federally funded research institutions, had helped the industry take great strides in recent years, but said extra support would be required in the short term if Indian exporters of finished leather, leathergoods, leather garments and leather footwear are to meet a combined export target of $4.7 billion in the current financial year, which ends on March 31, 2012.
“We registered export growth of 27% in the first seven months of the current financial year (April-October),” Mr Ahmed said, “but things have changed very fast in the second half of the year. The re-emergence of the crisis situation in Europe is a cause for concern for all of us as it is our major market, contributing about 66% of our export values. There is a need for some short-term measures to sustain the growth momentum in exports to Europe.”
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