Indian leather industry to double tanning capacity
New chairman of the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) Mukhtarul Amin has disclosed plans to increase India’s tanning capacity from two billion square feet to approximately four billion square feet. Speaking at the opening of IILF in Chennai, he said that help from state governments would be required to encourage investment in the tanning sector and to ensure that suitable environmental safeguards were in place. The aim is to increase footwear production capacity from 250,000 pairs a day to 1 million pairs.
Mr Amin added that, having reported earnings of $2.7 billion in 2005-06, the leather industry has become the eighth largest foreign exchange earner for the country. He stressed the need for support in the leather garment sector which has been steadily declining in recent years and also urged exporters of saddlery and harness goods and gloves to seek new markets.
He requested that the Tamil Nadu government expedite the building of a SEZ footwear park near Chennai and called upon the government to launch a training scheme to train people in basic skills due to employee shortages in some areas.
Indian minister of state for Commerce Jairam Ramesh expressed hope that the footwear industry would achieve its $7 billion target by 2011, by taking full advantage of the anti-dumping duties imposed by the EU on China and Vietnam and focusing on ladies’ and children’s footwear. He also revealed plans to create 500,000 new jobs in the leather sector.
Indian minister for Communication and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said that Tamil Nadu’s share comprises 50% of total Indian leather exports, and that the industry should consider enhancing its base to meet large orders, particularly from the USA, adding that local and central government has already allocated Rs160 million ($3.6 million) to help in the expansion of the Chennai Trade Centre.
