Kanpur, India’s hot-spot of saddle production with over 250 specialised factories, plans to double its exports within the next two years as it successfully battles Chinese competition. There are also plans to set up world-class horse riding training school in the city and negotiations with trainers are currently taking place.

The factories combined already export horse-riding saddles worth Rs 2 billion ($46 million) a year and employ 15,000 people. Set up in 1860 during the British colonial rule, due to the availability of buffalo hides and the tradition of vegetable tanning, the saddle industry picked up considerably after modernisation in the 1990s and recorded exports of Rs 740 million ($16.934 million) in 1995-96 from Rs 80 million ($1.831 million) compared to 1985-86.

Among significant developments for the industry was the creation of the new polyurethane saddletree by IISTEM (International Institute of Saddlery Technology and Export Management) and IIT (Indian Institute if Technology), a durable base around which the leather is sown, now available locally.

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