AP to promote seven leather clusters

The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to revive the leather industry in the state by promoting seven leather clusters for providing basic infrastructure for artisans and small and medium enterprises, starting this year. This comes after a complete closure of the leather and value-addition activities, including the tanneries, last decade.

“We are in advanced stage of acquiring the land in seven different locations for the proposed clusters,” said a state government official who is overseeing the project.

While the state nodal agency, Lidcap, has been operating on a shoe-string budgetary support of Rs 5 crore a year, the ongoing exercise headed by deputy chief minister Damodara Rajanarsimha to make available a guaranteed pool of budgetary allocations under the Scheduled Caste (SC) sub-plan for this and other activities will change the situation, according to the official.

 

Besides, the state agency has also submitted proposals to the Centre to fund these clusters in addition to a five-year action plan with a provision of Rs 165 crore for the development of clusters and other allied activities, from this year.

Andhra Pradesh's contribution to leather exports is almost negligible with practically no infrastructure available for the growth of the industry. According to 2009-10 statistics, Tamil Nadu ranks first with 35.18 per cent share in the country’s leather exports. AP’s exports stood just at Rs 12.51 crore.