The Chennai leather cluster in Tamil Nadu, India, is among the ten most dynamic industrial clusters in the world, according to a UN agency report.

The other nine cluster studies featured in the report were: Argentina’s Buenos Aires automotive cluster; the south-eastern Brazil pulp and paper cluster; Cambodia’s Pnom Penh garment cluster; Chile’s Los Lagos salmon cluster; China’s Qiaotou button cluster; Indonesia’s Jakarta automotive cluster; Malaysia’s Penang electronics cluster; Nigeria’s Otigba computer component cluster; and Laos’ agriculture and wood culture cluster.

According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) report, Chennai achieved the highest employment export elasticity at 1.3%; meaning that for every percentage point increase in exports, employment rose 1.3%. The UNIDO survey found that employment in the Chennai cluster rose from 4,643 workers in 2000 to 7,754 workers in 2006, while average wages rose from $174 per month to $187 during the same period.

“Although leathergoods manufacturing is pollution-intensive, the erection of treatment plants through the efforts of relevant institutions and the state government of Tamil Nadu has helped lower pollution levels,” the report said.

“The developing world needs many such industrial clusters for the overall economic growth and employment generation,” Phillippe Scholtes, regional director of UNIDO South Asia, said.