Rising rupee hurting leather exporters as competing countries benefit

Depreciation in currency of competing countries hurting players further

An appreciating rupee is bad news for the domestic leather industry, which has already seen a 50% drop in business owing to the Centre's ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter.

Exporters say the country has lost competitiveness to the extent of 10-15% in the past two years due to exchange rate alone. The industry is already dealing with a situation where there is no substantial increase in orders, month-on-month, due to an increase in competition, especially from Vietnam and Bangladesh.

The $12-billion Indian leather industry is among the top five in the world’s leather market. It